Gu Chengming's eyes snapped open, and he sat up on the bed.
Steadying his breathing, he simply filtered out whatever the "Hundred Bones Resonance" was rambling about in his mind.
Just now in the Love Hundred Bones Resonance room, the frivolous move the Hundred Bones Resonance phantom had pulled at the last moment did stray beyond the bounds of a normal martial exchange, but that wasn't the point at all.
The point was this: after weathering "Hundred Emperor, aid me" — a killing move that stacked countless negative states and self-harm buffs — that phantom had genuinely taken a step back.
In the game's underlying logic, as long as a Boss with invincibility frames or a super-armor mechanic showed hitstun or displacement, it proved its defense threshold wasn't absolutely locked.
The "monkey show" approach hadn't been wrong at all.
Sitting cross-legged on the bed, Gu Chengming calmly began to review what had happened.
The items he'd used on the training grounds — whether the "Jiaolong Reverse-Scale Pill," the "Bone-Eroding Heart-Rotting Pot," or the shoddy "Avici Karmic-Fire Stone" — were all nothing more than cheap junk picked up on a whim at the market.
The blood-qi surge, near-death health-lock, and karmic-fire bonus damage these cheap items provided were the most basic numerical boosts, and they even clashed pharmacologically with one another, wasting no small amount of power. That whole convoluted sequence just now had been solely to test one thing — whether forcibly stacking buffs in front of a Boss would get interrupted.
"Since the mechanic allows it, the rest is just a matter of optimizing the numbers."
Gu Chengming rubbed his chin. Swap out those inferior pills for higher-grade, top-quality ones, then adjust the multiplier algorithms of each buff — especially once the Grand Tournament ended and he got his hands on the "Blood-Burning Realm-Breaking Pearl," the first-place reward, to serve as the core of this build. Punching clean through that phantom's defensive floor was no pipe dream.
At the thought, the corner of his mouth curved up, and for once a look of quiet confidence crossed his face.
The road was troublesome, but at least the direction was clear now. What remained was simply a matter of time and resources.
Just as Gu Chengming was absorbed in pulling up tables and crunching numbers in his mind, the Hundred Emperor's attitude was rather peculiar.
[Hundred Bones Resonance, gnashing its teeth: What utter humiliation! That illusion may be my limit, but how could it harbor such filthy thoughts! If I cannot become stronger than her, won't Heavenly Emperor Gu end up being ravished by that counterfeit... No! Absolutely not! I must grow stronger at once, to restore the true Heavenly Emperor's prestige!]
Listening to this speech packed with things worth mocking, Gu Chengming had no idea where to even begin talking it down.
After a moment's thought he decided to just ignore it, and set about consolidating his earlier gains from the Love Laboratory.
Gu Chengming set the Zhouli Heavenly Harmony Righteous Heart Method turning, and his Righteous Noble Breath surged like a great river, swiftly combing the scattered residual spiritual qi into perfect order.
His meridians expanded smoothly, and the spiritual power vortex in his dantian gave a joyful, clear ring before its volume swelled another size.
True essence circulated, endless and self-renewing.
Third Realm, fifth layer — attained as naturally as water finding its channel.
A warm current welled from his dantian to every limb and bone, a tingling numbness running through his meridians — the sign of spiritual power settling back into balance after breaking past a bottleneck. The surrounding spiritual qi, as if drawn by some pull, gathered toward him without a sound, then slowly dispersed a moment later.
Gu Chengming slowly opened his eyes, feeling the spiritual power within him now several times richer than before, yet little joy showed on his face.
He walked to the window and gazed at the spirit-bamboo swaying in the wind outside the courtyard, his eyes deep.
True, breaking through to the fifth layer of the Third Realm had greatly boosted his base stats. Both the power of the Huiyuan Sword Formula and the physical toughness of the Hundred Bones Resonance rose with the tide. But Gu Chengming knew full well that for him now, pure realm advancement and the piling-up of proficiency in conventional swordplay yielded ever-diminishing marginal returns.
He needed a new multiplier — a wholly new cultivation technique independent of his existing system, one that could vastly raise his ceiling.
Gu Chengming turned and walked back to the desk, drawing from his storage pouch a heavy tome bound in some unknown beast hide.
The Free and Unfettered Art.
The lifelong work of that Sixth Realm senior who had left a trail of chaos across the cultivation world and behaved in the most appalling, outrageous manner.
Since this technique dared to call itself "free and unfettered," it must possess some unique, convention-breaking mechanic.
Gu Chengming opened the tome, skipped straight past the aneurysm-inducing wicked biographies at the front, and fixed his eyes on the last few pages of obscure, cryptic formulas.
It was time to comprehend this demon-pill of a technique.
Over the next few days, Gu Chengming shut his door and threw himself into grinding out this Sixth Realm technique.
Yet progress proved unexpectedly difficult.
This Free and Unfettered Art had no clear circulation route anywhere in its pages, nor any concrete diagrams of moves. The whole thing was crammed with abstract, mystical concepts like "wield all things, bound by no form" and "cast off the false to keep the true, an utter heresy."
Gu Chengming tried the most orthodox meditation of the cultivation world, attempting to grasp the "freedom" within the technique.
He sat there for a full day and night, his mind utterly clear, his spiritual power circulating steady and even.
But the system stayed dead silent, never popping up the "new technique comprehended" prompt.
He tried the opposite approach, circulating his true essence upside down and even deliberately running his meridians in reverse, trying to align with the technique's "utter heresy."
The result: nothing but a churning of his blood-qi that nearly sent him into qi deviation — and still not a shred of gain.
Gu Chengming closed the beast-hide tome, rubbed his throbbing brow, and let out a long sigh.
"Could this senior have been guarding against later generations — deliberately writing a fake technique to toy with people?"
He began seriously trying to fathom the senior's state of mind.
This was a peerless prankster who would tie explosive talismans to his senior sister's flying sword and set up a marriage-proposal stall at the gates of the Harmonious Joy Sect.
How could such a person's "Dao" possibly be comprehended by sitting down and meditating like a good boy?
To get a foot in the door of this Free and Unfettered Art, he probably couldn't solve the problem with conventional cultivation thinking. He'd have to pull off some kind of "amusing stunt" that matched that senior's wiring and broke completely free of the traditional cultivator's rules and boxes — only then could he resonate with it.
But Gu Chengming had always been a practical, steady man. Asking him to do those wicked deeds — he simply had no talent for it.
"Fine. I'll have to find some middle-ground method to try."
Gu Chengming rubbed his chin, and a memory flashed through his mind — not long ago in the main peak's great hall, Sect Master Shen Ganqiu holding a teacup and complaining to him.
"With the Grand Tournament coming up, the young disciples under me have grown rather slack instead. I don't know if it's the pressure or what, but they can't even muster the spirit for morning lessons."
Gu Chengming's eyes lit up.
Spurring his fellow disciples to train hard was absolutely a fine deed for the sect's future.
As for using some slightly unconventional, faintly stimulating little methods in the course of that spurring — surely that could count as "bound by no form," a perfect fit for the mood of the Free and Unfettered Art.
The more he thought about it, the more workable it seemed, and a flicker of interest surfaced in his eyes.
It wasn't truly running wild, yet it genuinely helped the sect — killing two birds with one stone.
If that Sixth Realm senior knew of it in the afterlife, he'd surely applaud this "impropriety that was proper to the bone."
As for exactly how to go about it, Gu Chengming quickly settled on a plan.
With the Myriad Mysteries Convergence Method backing him now, blanketing the entire outer-sect disciples' quarters of the Wenjian Sect with his spiritual sense was no hard task. Paired with the Red Dust Art derived from the Red Dust Phantom Body Formula, he could easily weave a vast dreamscape network covering every slacking disciple.
The key was what sort of figure to place in the dream to "instruct" them.
From Gu Chengming's usual observations, the male disciples of the Wenjian Sect feared neither heaven nor earth — save for the swift, decisive female sword cultivators of the Daoning Gate, whom they dreaded like tigers.
Fear had always been the foremost productive force.
That gave him a perfect point of entry.
With the plan set, Gu Chengming hesitated no longer.
He spent half a day repeatedly working out the coverage range of the Red Dust Art and the stability of the illusion, and once he'd ensured there was no chance of error, he simply held his teacup and waited quietly for nightfall.
Deep in the night, the moon dark and the wind high.
Gu Chengming sat cross-legged in the little courtyard, his hands forming an intricate seal. The Red Dust qi spread out without a sound, locking precisely onto the several thousand outer-sect male disciples fast asleep.
To leave an indelible impression in their dreams, the image of an ordinary Daoning Gate female cultivator clearly wasn't shocking enough.
Gu Chengming closed his eyes and began carefully fabricating in his mind the perfect mentor who would shoulder the heavy duty of "spurring."
"Go, then — for the future of the Wenjian Sect."
Gu Chengming offered a silent prayer within, and fully activated the Red Dust illusion.
The next day, at daybreak.
The sky had only just turned the pale gray of a fish's belly, the heavy morning fog not yet dispersed.
Outside the great hall of the Wenjian Sect's main peak, Shen Qianqiu stood with his hands behind his back, ready to begin the day's rounds.
But when he reached the edge of the training grounds, the sight before him froze him on the spot.
On the broad training grounds stood a dense black mass of several thousand outer-sect disciples.
Not one slacking off, not one whispering to another.
Every last one swung the Dharma Sword in his hand at an almost frenzied speed.
Their eyes were bloodshot, their faces white as paper, sweat pouring down their foreheads like waterfalls, their swords swinging fast enough to leave afterimages. With each swing, one or two shrieks — ghastly, as if they'd seen a ghost — would burst from the crowd now and then.
"Don't come near me! I'm swinging! I'm still swinging!"
"I'll drill the draw-sword form ten thousand more times!"
Shen Ganqiu stared at this fervent yet distinctly eerie scene of sword practice, and shock struck deep.
It took him a good while to recall the complaint he'd made to Gu Chengming earlier — that the disciples had grown slack in their cultivation of late.
He thought to himself: this couldn't be Little Gu's doing, could it?
Shen Ganqiu spun around at once and headed straight for the back hill of the Huiyuan Gate.
The little courtyard's gate was open, and Gu Chengming sat by the stone table sipping his morning tea.
"Chengming, those Wenjian Sect disciples—"
Shen Ganqiu strode into the courtyard and cut straight to the point.
Gu Chengming set down his teacup, rose, and bowed respectfully, answering without a flicker of expression: "This disciple heard the Sect Master fretting over his fellow disciples' cultivation, so I took it upon myself to lend a modest hand. Perhaps I did contribute a little something."
Shen Ganqiu was baffled, and couldn't hold back his curiosity: "How did you manage it? Did you teach them some shortcut to sword-dao insight?"
"There's no such shortcut." Gu Chengming smiled and told the truth: "This disciple merely used the Red Dust Art to build a unified illusion while they slept, and placed a strict teacher within it to spur them on with their sword practice at every moment."
Shen Ganqiu raised an eyebrow at that. "As simple as that?"
Gu Chengming nodded frankly. "As simple as that."
He silently added to himself: except that the teacher's image was blended a bit from Vice Commander Liu's face, a body-cultivator's muscles, and the identity of a Daoning Gate female cultivator — and if a disciple stopped practicing, he'd be forcibly embraced.
At this, most of Shen Ganqiu's doubts vanished. He clapped Gu Chengming on the shoulder, his gaze full of relief and feeling.
"Chengming, not only is your own talent outstanding, but you keep your fellow disciples in mind at every turn, willing to see even such a small matter through yourself. To have a pillar of talent like you is truly a great fortune for our Wenjian Sect."
Shen Ganqiu urged him to rest well and not wear down too much of his mind teaching the others, then, hands behind his back, left the little courtyard well satisfied.
His retreating figure looked utterly at ease, as if he could already see the glorious vision of the Wenjian Sect dominating the cultivation world.
Only when Shen Qianqiu's footsteps had faded entirely at the end of the mountain path did Gu Chengming sit back down by the stone table and turn his gaze to the semi-transparent panel ahead that only he could see.
Amid a flicker of golden light, a fresh line of text slowly surfaced.
[Free and Unfettered Art: initiated.]
[Current affinity: 10 / Stranger]
Gu Chengming looked at the prompt and sighed inwardly: it seemed the Sixth Realm senior who'd created this technique set the bar for understanding "freedom" far too low.
Here he was, an upright gentleman, and yet this technique judged him a kindred spirit.
But what puzzled Gu Chengming most wasn't his own undiscovered talent for shenanigans — it was this new technique's attitude.
From the moment he'd mastered it until now, it hadn't said a single word.
Staying silent to act like a master?
Gu Chengming was rather puzzled, unsure whether this was a trait of the technique or a gap in his own grasp of Sixth Realm techniques.
And after mastering it, the technique hadn't granted the numbers or mechanics he'd expected — apart from a slight increase in the speed of spiritual power circulation, it had no effect at all.
It left Gu Chengming feeling cheated.
Most crucially — not even giving him a dialogue box was pushing it a bit too far, wasn't it?
Had he accidentally bought a domestic gal-game?
He set the matter of this odd technique aside for now.
Since it wouldn't speak, he'd let it stay silent — there'd be chances to feel it out slowly later anyway.
There was something more pressing at hand: the Grand Tournament was right around the corner.
And just as Gu Chengming turned his attention to the tournament, over on another end of the Wenjian Sect, someone else was troubling over the very same matter.
The Wenjian Sect, the Daoning Gate.
Seas of cloud wreathed these cold, secluded peaks year-round, and the never-melting snows made the whole Daoning Gate look like the Moon Palace of legend.
At this moment, in the meditation chamber of the Daoning Gate's main hall, sandalwood smoke curled upward.
Elder Jingxuan, of the deepest seniority within the gate, sat upright on a cushion, holding a letter stamped with Sect Master Shen Qianqiu's private seal.
The writing on the letter was bold and forceful, but its contents left this weathered elder speechless for a long while.
The letter's contents were actually quite simple, laying out matters for the upcoming Grand Tournament of the major sects.
In every past Grand Tournament, the young flag-bearer who represented the Wenjian Sect in battle had always been the focus of attention from all quarters.
By the Wenjian Sect's original arrangement, that leading position should, without any suspense, have fallen to Su Qingmeng, the current Dao-Child of the Daoning Gate. Su Qingmeng was supremely gifted, her Lucid Sword-Heart clear, and from the day she entered she'd carried the whole Daoning Gate's high hopes — the undisputed pearl in their palm.
But the world was unpredictable.
Shen Ganqiu had written it plainly in the letter: for this Grand Tournament, the Wenjian Sect's young-generation leader would be Gu Chengming of the Huiyuan Gate.
Elder Jingxuan set the letter gently on the small table before her and rubbed her aching brow.
However highly the Daoning Gate had always regarded itself, however rarely she, Elder Jingxuan, praised male disciples, faced with this letter she had to admit that Shen Ganqiu's arrangement was beyond reproach.
The Gu Chengming of today was, without question, a peerless prodigy no one could match.
In the span of a mere two years, this young man once of no renown within the sect had, like an untamed dark horse, forced his way into the sight of every high-tier cultivator in the Great Qian with a brutal, overbearing momentum.
Cutting down three demonic cultivators in a row in the Capital, carving out a fearsome name at the Great Wall of the Northern Territory, and turning the tide at the Tianque Secret Realm — there were even rumors he'd hauled an entire Dharma-Station Wonder back with him.
In record, in strength, Gu Chengming had long since left his peers far behind.
Letting him take the lead — not a single soul in the entire Wenjian Sect would dare say a word against it.
Though she agreed completely on a rational level, what truly gave Elder Jingxuan a headache was an old matter from two years ago.
Two years ago, the Gu Chengming of that time had yet to show his edge — his cultivation was mediocre, hardly outstanding among the disciples.
And on one such seemingly ordinary day, Gu Chengming had actually come to the Daoning Gate and, to her face, asked Su Qingmeng to become his Dao-companion.
The outcome was, of course, a foregone conclusion.
The Daoning Gate cultivated a sword-dao of a pure heart free of desire, and Su Qingmeng had thrown her whole mind into the sword, with no interest whatsoever in such romantic sentiment.
She hadn't even let a single extra expression cross her face before refusing his request outright.
As Elder Jingxuan saw it then, this was just an ordinary disciple who didn't know his place, daydreaming of a toad wanting to eat swan meat. Rejected, and that was that — not worth a second thought.
But who could have imagined that in just two years, the tables would turn.
The ordinary disciple rejected to his face back then, seemingly slinking off in dejection, had now transformed into a monster near the top of the Hidden Dragon List — while the Dao-Child once so lofty would now have to serve beneath him in the Grand Tournament and follow his command.
Elder Jingxuan was filled with worry. She feared the girl Su Qingmeng, young and short on experience, having secluded herself for two years, would slam headlong into so vast a gap the moment she emerged — what if she couldn't bear it?
What if her Dao Heart were damaged and an obsession took root? Then the Daoning Gate's years of painstaking effort would all be for nothing.
"Haah, what a mess this is."
Elder Jingxuan let out a long sigh and lifted the now-cold spirit tea from the table, with no heart at all for savoring it.
Just then, the faintest footsteps came from outside the chamber.
"Disciple Su Qingmeng, requesting an audience with the Elder." A cool, clear voice sounded beyond the door.
"Come in." Elder Jingxuan swiftly reined in the worry on her face and put on a dignified, kindly expression.
The wooden door was pushed gently open.
Su Qingmeng, in plain white sword robes, stepped into the chamber.
She was tall and willowy, her face strikingly beautiful, her full head of black hair pinned up with a single unadorned wooden hairpin. As her aura flowed about her, a faint, keen sword intent lay coiled and unreleased.
Elder Jingxuan's gaze was sharp as a torch. She looked her over from head to toe, and a light of relief rose in her eyes.
Third Realm, first layer.
In two years of secluded cultivation, Su Qingmeng had not only broken through successfully but built an incomparably solid foundation, and that sword intent unique to the Daoning Gate had begun to take shape.
By cultivation progress alone, Su Qingmeng had absolutely lived up to the name of Dao-Child.
"Qingmeng, you've come out of seclusion. These two years of hard cultivation truly haven't disappointed your teacher." Elder Jingxuan praised warmly.
"Thank you for your guidance, Elder. This disciple merely followed the steps and gained a little, that's all."
Su Qingmeng bowed slightly, her expression placid, showing no smug elation at her breakthrough.
Elder Jingxuan gestured to the cushion opposite, motioning for Su Qingmeng to sit.
Once Su Qingmeng was seated, a brief silence settled over the chamber.
Elder Jingxuan lifted the teapot and poured Su Qingmeng a cup of hot tea, the water rinsing the cup wall with a soft, scattered sound, as though laying the groundwork for the conversation to come.
"Qingmeng, your timing coming out of seclusion is just right. Before long, it'll be the tournament when all the major sects gather."
Elder Jingxuan weighed her words, keeping her tone exceedingly gentle, trying to soften the bombshell to come.
Su Qingmeng cupped the teacup in both hands and lightly blew away the floating leaves on the surface. "This disciple understands. Winning glory for the sect is my duty. In this tournament, I'll surely give my all and not disgrace the Daoning Gate's name."
Watching Su Qingmeng's matter-of-fact air, Elder Jingxuan grew even more conflicted.
The girl clearly still thought herself the unquestioned team leader.
"Having that resolve is fine, of course." Elder Jingxuan cleared her throat twice. "However, regarding the arrangements for this tournament, the Sect Master has made a new decision. The sect has chosen someone else to lead the younger generation."
Su Qingmeng raised her head, and a fittingly measured trace of puzzlement flickered in her cool eyes — but no resentment or disappointment showed.
"Someone else has been chosen?"
Su Qingmeng set down her cup and asked evenly: "May I ask, Elder, which gate's senior or junior brother has won the Sect Master's favor?"
Elder Jingxuan drew a deep breath. Deciding it was one cut whether she stuck her neck out or drew it back, she just laid it bare.
"It's Gu Chengming of the Huiyuan Gate."
The instant those words left her, Elder Jingxuan all but held her breath. She'd prepared a whole set of speeches to soothe the girl's emotions — but Su Qingmeng's reaction caught her completely off guard.
"So it's Fellow Daoist Gu."
Elder Jingxuan was stunned. That was it? No other reaction?
"Qingmeng, don't you feel wronged?"
Elder Jingxuan probed cautiously, afraid the girl was bottling all her feelings up inside, which would only make qi deviation more likely.
At that, Su Qingmeng instead looked thoroughly puzzled.
"Wronged? Why would the Elder say that?" Su Qingmeng tilted her head slightly and spoke bluntly: "The Grand Tournament has always gone to the most capable. Since the Sect Master decided to let Fellow Daoist Gu lead, it must be because Fellow Daoist Gu has the ability to command respect. Why would I feel wronged?"
The question left Elder Jingxuan speechless.
But what Su Qingmeng said next confirmed she truly knew nothing of the outside world.
"It's only that this disciple has spent these two years in secluded cultivation, so I know very little of outside matters."
Su Qingmeng knit her brows slightly, a note of curiosity in her voice: "After coming out of seclusion, whenever I happened to run into a few junior sisters, the moment they saw me they'd fall silent, and about this Fellow Daoist Gu they were especially tight-lipped."
Su Qingmeng paused, seeming to find her junior sisters' behavior rather absurd: "I'd thought at first that something had gone wrong with Fellow Daoist Gu's cultivation, and the junior sisters kept quiet for fear of disturbing my practice. Now it seems they feared I'd learn how far Fellow Daoist Gu's cultivation has advanced, feel the gap, and have my Dao Heart shaken?"
Elder Jingxuan's aged face flushed, and she coughed to cover her embarrassment.
Fear the junior sisters? Hadn't she, an elder, been scared half to death herself just now?
It seemed the whole of the Daoning Gate was tiptoeing to protect this Dao-Child's fragile pride — a pride that might not even exist.
"Ahem — they just care about you, that's why they fussed."
Elder Jingxuan quickly changed the subject. Since Su Qingmeng's state of mind was fine, she stopped hiding things and laid out Gu Chengming's deeds of the past two years, one by one.
Slaying demonic cultivators in the Capital, making his name at the Great Wall of the Northern Territory, turning the tide at the Tianque Secret Realm — each and every deed enough to make an ordinary cultivator look up in awe for a lifetime, and all of them had happened to one and the same man, in just two years.
Su Qingmeng listened quietly to the Elder's account. As Gu Chengming's exploits were revealed one after another, an unusual light gradually kindled in her once-calm eyes.
She'd always thought her first-layer Third Realm cultivation already put her at the top of the younger generation. Only now did she realize there were higher heavens beyond the heavens, greater people beyond the people — and this person came from her very own sect.
"The Elder is quite right. On this matter, this disciple has no objection. Letting the stronger lead the sect forward is only natural."
At that she smiled, then turned to add: "Only, feats are, in the end, tales others recount, and reputation is but a passing cloud. For us sword cultivators, to truly know a person, one must of course speak with the blade."
Su Qingmeng rose to her feet, her posture straight as a pine, and the long sword at her back gave a crisp ring, as if answering its master's mood.
She cupped her hands and bowed solemnly to Elder Jingxuan.
"If it's convenient, would the Elder please relay to the Sect Master on my behalf: before the tournament, this disciple wishes to have a fair and honest match with Fellow Daoist Gu."
Elder Jingxuan looked at her disciple, brimming with fighting spirit, opened her mouth, and in the end all her thousand words caught in her throat.
She badly wanted to tell Su Qingmeng that Gu Chengming often didn't even draw his sword in a fight these days!
He blasted his enemies to pulp with pure physical blood-qi, one punch at a time!
Go challenge him to a sword duel, and what if he lost his temper and threw a punch at you?
But looking at Su Qingmeng's seeking heart, untainted by a single stray thought, she sighed inwardly again and prayed Gu Chengming would know to pull his punches when the time came.
"Very well. I'll relay your wish to the Sect Master faithfully."
The little back-hill courtyard of the Huiyuan Gate.
Gu Chengming had just finished clearing the fallen leaves in the courtyard when he received a flying-sword message from Sect Master Shen Ganqiu.
The message was brief and to the point: Su Qingmeng, the Dao-Child of the Daoning Gate, was seeking a bout before the tournament and wanted to spar with him.
After reading it, Gu Chengming held the paper, a peculiar look on his face.
The name "Su Qingmeng" was not unfamiliar to him. After all, before his transmigration, he'd been the one controlling the game character who ran off to confess to this Dao-Child — which was what set off the whole chain of events.
Setting aside that somewhat awkward plotline, Gu Chengming had a deep impression of this Dao-Child's character art — she really could be called extremely beautiful.
Before he could dwell on it further, his Sea of Consciousness erupted first.
[Hundred Bones Resonance, having made out the letter's contents, instantly shed the dejection and withdrawal from being ground into the dirt earlier by the phantom. It danced and waved its arms excitedly in his Sea of Consciousness, shouting: Heavenly Emperor Gu! It's here! It's the classic plot of "the tables turn every thirty years, never look down on a poor youth"!]
For the satisfying revenge tropes that existed only in storybooks, Old Hundred clearly had no resistance at all, so worked up that even his blood-qi churned along with him.
Gu Chengming was utterly speechless.
Old Hundred, why do you resurrect at full health on the spot the instant you hear a face-slapping plot?
Before he could finish grumbling, another one joined in on the fun.
[Huiyuan Sword Formula, swinging the greatsword in its hands with force, chimed in indignantly: Exactly, exactly! To think she dared reject Chengming back then — utterly blind! We absolutely must show her some color on the arena and make her realize how formidable Chengming is!]
Gu Chengming sighed inwardly.
Mama Huiyuan, don't stir up trouble along with Old Hundred.
Noisy as the dialogue boxes before him were, Gu Chengming still wrote back to Shen Ganqiu and cleanly agreed to the duel.
Just a spar between fellow disciples — no harm in fighting one.
A few days later, the main peak's training grounds.
Though the spar wasn't publicly announced, word still spread among the disciples. The Daoning Gate's Dao-Child versus the Huiyuan Gate's Gu Chengming — the mere collision of those two names was enough to ignite the whole Wenjian Sect's enthusiasm. To keep it from affecting either side's performance, though, the elders had to step in personally to clear the field.
The autumn wind soughed bleakly. The onlooking disciples were driven off by the elders, leaving only the empty bluestone arena.
Gu Chengming arrived as agreed, and at last laid eyes on this rumored Dao-Child, "Su Qingmeng."
From several yards away, Gu Chengming sized her up a few times and gave a thoroughly objective assessment within.
She really was beautiful.
Plain white sword robes, black hair with a wooden hairpin, a face stunning and cool, her edge restrained yet impossible to ignore — far more vivid in person than the character art on the screen back then.
Seeing him step onto the arena, Su Qingmeng didn't draw at once. Instead she gave a slight nod and spoke first.
"Fellow Daoist Gu, I take it?"
Her voice was like a cold spring striking stone, crisp and calm.
"Today's challenge came suddenly."
Su Qingmeng looked straight into Gu Chengming's eyes, making her stance perfectly clear:
"I've only just emerged from seclusion, and hearing that a peerless sword cultivator like you had appeared among my peers, I was seized by the thrill of the hunt and wished to test my own sword-dao. This match concerns only skill with the blade — there's not the slightest intent aimed at you personally, so please don't read too much into it."
The words were open and forthright, laying bare the purity of a Dao-seeker.
Gu Chengming nodded, thinking her a most principled sword cultivator.
He was just about to offer a few polite words and, while at it, mention the truth that he actually didn't always use his sword.
Right then, dead center in his field of vision, a huge semi-transparent pop-up appeared without any warning.
Its border even flashed with wildly gaudy multicolored neon light effects.
[Ding — Rebirth Vengeance System now activated]
[In my past life, I confessed to her and was humiliated, oppressed by fellow disciples, scorned by my elders, and in the end wasted away in gloom, my body dead and my Dao extinguished!]
[This life I have been reborn, awakening the Rebirth Vengeance System, and I shall make this woman understand — the tables turn every thirty years; never look down on a poor youth!]
[Mission One: Display overwhelming strength and utterly crush her in this match, driving her to despair. Reward: ten vengeance points]
[Mission Two: Slap her hard in the face, making Su Qingmeng bitterly regret her rejection all those years ago. Reward: thirty vengeance points]
[Mission Three: Shatter her pride completely, subjugate Su Qingmeng and her master as handmaidens, and carry out a master-disciple ■. Reward: one hundred vengeance points]
Gu Chengming froze on the spot, the words on the tip of his tongue swallowed back down, a question mark sprouting over his head.
Where the hell had this ancient trashy-web-novel loser-protagonist system crawled out of?!
____
Gift for Everyone: Once we hit 20 Powerstones, I'll release +1 bonus chapter
________________________________________
If you want more chapters, please consider supporting my page on (P). with 50 advanced chapters available on (P)
👻 Join the crew by searching Leanzin on (P). You know the spot! 😉