In the magnificent hall, spiritual lamps radiated a soft white light, and the floor was paved with spiritual jade and intricately carved with spiritual beasts. Every decoration exuded luxury and nobility, highlighting the immense power of the family behind this hall.

"Bang!" The teacup crashed to the ground, its crisp crack echoing through the hall. The jade cup shattered, spilling the spiritual tea, which then snaked along the smooth jade floor, emitting a faint aura. Ling Ruoxi abruptly rose from the virtual cabin, her face livid. Her hands clenched into fists, her knuckles white. She was like a longbow stretched to its limit, brimming with uncontrollable rage.

The screen's glow shone on her pale face, the still image glaring and cold—the worn-out basic mecha struck the Sky Sword's energy core with a sweeping strike. Then, her Sky Sword crashed to the ground, completely incapacitated. This scene was like a sharp thorn, piercing Ling Ruoxi's pride.

"Fourth level of Qi training? Basic mecha?" She gritted her teeth, her voice low and trembling with anger. "I, the proud prodigy of the Ling family, wielding the Sky Sword crafted from top-grade spiritual materials, actually lost to this...this kind of trash!"

She spun abruptly and pressed the replay button outside the virtual cabin, using almost all her strength. The battle scene flashed across the screen once again. In the cold virtual battlefield, the Sky Sword's flying sword system unleashed like a meteor, its spiritual energy bursting like thunder. However, the basic mecha used the simplest movements to maneuver and dodge, even narrowly avoiding death several times. Until the final blow, it precisely seized the brief pause in the Sky Sword's wings' movement and delivered a fatal sweeping blow.

Ling Ruoxi stared at the screen, her fingers trembling slightly, as if trying to find a reasonable explanation for the scene. But no matter how many times she watched it, she couldn't comprehend its precision—the basic mecha's movements were completely seamless, even so simple that they felt a bit shabby. But it was this very simplicity that completely shattered her confidence.

"Why?" she whispered to herself, a hint of reluctance and confusion in her voice. She turned to look at the screen, her gaze growing ever deeper, as she stared at the basic mecha's movements as if she wanted to tear the screen apart. "How did he do that?"

The atmosphere in the hall was almost stagnant, but Ling Ruoxi's anger didn't infect the others present. The elders of the Ling family stood in the distance, their expressions impassive. Only a middle-aged man in a golden Taoist robe slowly stepped forward. His face was solemn, a soothing look between his brows, but his tone was calm and composed. "Ruoxi, it's just a virtual battle. Why are you so angry? A virtual battlefield is, after all, a simulation. In reality, your cultivation is far above the fourth level of Qi training. How could you lose to such a nobody?"

These words were meant to comfort her, but to Ling Ruoxi, they only added fuel to the fire. She suddenly looked up, her gaze piercing the middle-aged man like a sharp blade, her voice cold and resolute, "Impossible! Even in a virtual battle, this basic mecha can't possibly defeat me!"

Her voice was laced with unconcealed anger and shame, even a hint of unease. She turned back to point at the screen, her fingertips trembling slightly, as if the image were mocking her pride and strength. "This 'Zero'... he's no ordinary person! His control isn't a fluke. This level of precision couldn't possibly be found in a cultivator at the fourth level of Qi training!"

The middle-aged man was silent for a moment, his gaze fixed on the screen. He didn't entirely agree with Ling Ruoxi's assessment, but the performance of the basic mecha did strike him as somewhat unsettling. He sighed softly, his tone slowing slightly, "Perhaps this was just a coincidence. The spiritual energy fluctuations indicated that the mecha was on the verge of collapse. Perhaps it was a coincidence on the battlefield that allowed him to seize his only chance..."

Ling Ruoxi remained unmoved. She abruptly turned, walked to the virtual cabin, and slammed her palm against the wall, the sound echoing throughout the empty hall. A sneer crossed her face, but it was filled with coldness and stubbornness. "Chance? Coincidence? My Sky Sword has never been defeated by 'coincidence'."

She paused for a moment, then turned to look at the middle-aged man, her eyes flashing with uncontrollable anger and obsession. "I want to find out who he is. His combat data, his spiritual energy fluctuations, every move he made—I want to know who this 'Zero' is!"

The spiritual energy within the hall vibrated slightly, and Ling Ruoxi's fierce determination rippled through her body, causing the elders present to exchange glances. They had never seen Ling Ruoxi lose her composure like this, nor had they ever seen this genius so obsessed with an unknown person.

At this moment, the battle scene on the screen slowly dimmed, and the figure of the basic mecha disappeared in the endless virtual battlefield, like a breeze passing by, leaving only the unresolved question in Ling Ruoxi's heart.

Is this "Zero" really just an ordinary person?

Ling Ruoxi rewinded the scene to that moment again. The movements of the basic mecha on the screen were magnified, broken down, and reassembled before her eyes. Her brows furrowed ever tighter, her gaze piercing the screen. Her fingers involuntarily tapped lightly on the table, accompanied by a faint wave of spiritual energy.

"Even with all the energy gone, he still maintains such precision..." She murmured softly, as if asking herself, or as if lost in deep thought, "Is this due to extensive combat experience? Or is it natural acumen?"

With doubts, she quickly called up the virtual combat system's database and entered "Zero" to search. The progress bar loaded rapidly, but the result made her face darken.

"No matching information."

"Registration information is hidden. Insufficient system permissions. Unable to query identity." A cold, mocking message appeared in the center of the screen, piercing her nerves. Ling Ruoxi slammed her palm down on the table, making a dull thud that shook the spiritual tea cup on the table.

My dear, there is more to this chapter. Please click on the next page to continue reading. It will be even more exciting later!