33. Who Am I Supposed to Spar With?
The news of the Flame Python’s death quickly spread throughout the capital with Emperor Shangguan Long’s tacit approval.
Many in the city had heard the python’s dying words, thus speculating that the one who killed it was a cultivator from the Great One Engineering Sect, whose cultivation was at least at the Immortal Mansion realm.
When Gong Yiling and the two girls returned to Shangguan Lingyue’s manor, the general, who shouldn’t have been there at this time, greeted them and asked, “Was it really your master who did it?”
Qiu Shui was confused. “Ah… what is it?”
“The Flame Python!” Shangguan Lingyue, ignoring the inconspicuous Gong Yiling, asked excitedly, “Did your master kill it?”
“Kill it?”
“You didn’t know?” Shangguan Lingyue stroked her chin, puzzled. “I thought you would. The Flame Python is dead, and it seems to have been killed by a cultivator from the Great One Engineering Sect. Besides your master, who else could it be around here?”
“Dead!?”
Qiu Shui covered her mouth in disbelief.
Heavens!
That Flame Python was a Heavenly Venerable demonic beast, but her master… ahem.
She glanced at Gong Yiling…
Wait, where was she?
Master was just here.
“And your master wasn’t even in the city today. She was either at the manor or in the palace—ah.”
Strong martial artists often admired and sought to challenge those stronger than themselves.
Gong Yiling had just changed her outfit and returned when Shangguan Lingyue approached, thumping her own chest.
“Immortal Master, you are now my goal!”
“Because of the Flame Python?”
“Yes!”
“Ah… haha, haha.” Gong Yiling scratched the back of her head. “Actually… you could have done it too.”
It was true. Anyone could have done it. Wear a Flame King Soft Hedgehog Armor, grab an Immortal Artifact, absorb some venom, get launched by a bouncy net, hit the python’s vital point, then chop off its head.
It didn’t even require any skill!
“Immortal Master, you’re too modest.” Shangguan Lingyue shook her head. “I once tried to drive it away with Brother Yan, but we were defeated and almost died.”
“To single-handedly kill the Flame Python is no easy feat.”
Gong Yiling felt a bit smug from her praise. “Was I really that amazing? Haha, haha, hahaha.”
“So—”
Shangguan Lingyue suddenly bowed, cupping her fists. “I’m bored staying in the city, and there’s no action on the front lines. Please enlighten me, Immortal Master. Let us spar!”
“Haha… huh?” Gong Yiling almost bit her tongue. “What did you say?”
Shangguan Lingyue said seriously, “I wish to spar with you, to learn and improve myself.”
—*I’m not the one you want to spar with!*
What level was Shangguan Lingyue again? If she remembered correctly, she was around Earthly Nether realm. Before his corruption, even Shangguan Qingyun wouldn’t dare offend her, and even Shangguan Long had to show her respect.
In the entire Heartflame Empire, Shangguan Lingyue was undoubtedly among the top ten strongest.
And such a powerful figure wanted to spar with her for guidance?
She would be beaten into a pulp.
“Um…” Gong Yiling cleared her throat. “I’ve suffered some poison injuries and need to recuperate. I’m not fit for combat today.”
“Then tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow is also not suitable.”
“Then the day after tomorrow.”
“The day after tomorrow is also not suitable.”
“Then when will you be available, Immortal Master?”
“A certain immortal told me I shouldn’t engage in combat for at least a hundred days.”
This was a blatant refusal, but Shangguan Lingyue wasn’t discouraged. “It’s fine. Whenever you’re free, Immortal Master. I’m not in a hurry.”
—*You’re not in a hurry, but I am!*
Gong Yiling twitched her lips. “So, you just want to improve your cultivation?”
“Yes.”
“The Shangguan family’s martial arts technique is called the Supreme Martial Brilliance Dust Technique. It combines inner cultivation and martial skills. Although it’s quite comprehensive, two lines are missing from the ancestral oral tradition, limiting martial cultivators to the Earthly Nether realm.”
Her words stunned Shangguan Lingyue.
If before she had simply been eager for a challenge, now it was different.
“How… how did you know that?”
“How I know is not important.” Gong Yiling said, “The important thing is, I know the missing lines.”
“They are…?”
“Even if odds remain unchanged, signs determine quadrants.”
After casually dropping this line, the almost laughably nonsensical cultivation mantra, Miss Gong turned and left with Qiu Shui and Lu Xinyao, leaving Shangguan Lingyue standing there, dumbfounded.
A single sentence awakened the dreamer.
—
—
“So…” Qiu Shui looked back at the stunned Shangguan Lingyue and asked, “Did Master really kill the Flame Python?”
“In the end, yes,” Gong Yiling admitted, sticking out her tongue. “But the process was… a bit metaphysical.”
“Metaphysical?”
“You wouldn’t understand if you’ve never played gacha games.” Gong Yiling waved her hand. “It was as lucky as me pulling you three from the vast crowd.”
One was the destined one of the Cloud Rainbow Sect, one was a Divine Phoenix Fox Demon, and one was the inheritor of the Seven Treasures Universe Talisman Secret Art.
She was a professional at gacha games!
“Metaphysics can allow someone to kill a Heavenly Venerable Flame Python across several realms?” Qiu Shui still couldn’t comprehend it.
No one could. If such a thing was possible, the entire power system of this world would collapse.
“It was actually quite logical,” Gong Yiling mumbled. “My mother’s preparations, a sword hilt I don’t even remember putting in my ring, plus a bit of luck and skill, and it was done.”
“A bit of luck?”
“Yes, a lot of luck.”
Seeing Gong Yiling’s confident expression, Qiu Shui bit her lip and suddenly hugged her tightly.
This was the first time Miss Gong had been hugged by a beautiful girl so proactively. She froze. “Qiu Shui?”
“Mmm…”
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. Just hugging you for a bit.”
Looking at the girl’s trembling eyelashes, Gong Yiling chuckled. “I worried you, didn’t I?”
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