09. Exchange of intelligence
Shen Yuanqing used the momentum to do a backflip and landed steadily, looking up at Tang Xichun in disbelief.
How can it be so heavy? It's practically as immovable as a mine!
He scrambled to his feet, slightly disheveled, recalled his weapon, and was surprised to find a gash on his blade.
"……you!"
Shen Yuanqing opened his mouth, gritted his teeth, and said, "Damn it, damn it! I must win! You die!"
He roared and charged forward again, his twin blades transforming into a relentless, ferocious onslaught, like a whirlwind, relentlessly attacking Tang Xichun. Slicing, cutting, chopping, slashing, thrusting—the blade light moved so fast it rolled into a ball of silver, cutting through everything with a piercing whistling sound.
Zhang Benyi, sitting in the audience, pushed up his glasses with his middle finger and said, "Why are kids these days so aggressive?"
Some onlookers were also worried for Tang Xichun: "Her movements are so small! Will she be able to dodge?"
The spectators in the front row could see everything clearly, and Shen Yuanqing, as his opponent, knew it all too well. The longer it dragged on, the more embarrassed he felt.
How embarrassing.
She's just a woman! Why can't you chop her up?
Why can't I hurt her even a little bit!
Shen Yuanqing grew angrier the more he thought about it. His ferocious attack paused for a moment, then he impatiently gathered his strength in the blade of his right hand and stabbed at Tang Xichun's face: "You stupid idiot who's just standing there, do you even know how to use a knife!"
You dog who has no martial ethics—
Tang Xichun was instantly displeased, her face turning as black as ink. She leaned back in an extremely tricky arc to dodge Shen Yuanqing's frontal thrust. When her back was almost parallel to the ground, she flipped her hands back to support herself on the ground and leaped into the air. At the same time, she used her waist to kick the long sword with her toes.
When she stands still to block, she is as immovable as a mountain; when she dodges, she is as agile as a leaf dancing in the wind.
Amidst the flashing blades, as the longsword blocked the flying blade, Tang Xichun had already created distance and gathered her spiritual power to attack Shen Yuanqing.
A deafening explosion erupted, instantly sending dust billowing into the air. The massive cloud of dust completely obscured the situation on the stage, forcing the audience to squint and strain to see what was happening inside.
Once the smoke and dust cleared, the two had already put some distance between them.
Shen Yuanqing stood panting in one corner of the arena, while Tang Xichun, in a strange pose, stood in the very center of the arena.
She slightly bent her knees, lowered her center of gravity, her face still had that sour look, but her eyes were as calm as an ancient well. Her right arm was raised high, her right fingers gripping the hilt of the knife one by one, and her left arm was also extended, her fingertips lightly touching the back of the knife.
"What kind of pose is this?"
"Like a person carrying a load on a shoulder pole, crookedly squatting like a duck by the roadside..."
"Is she finally going to make the first move?"
Shen Yuanqing was seated near the audience, and he could hear everything the onlookers were saying. He gritted his teeth in anger, but there was nothing he could do.
shame.
That's a disgrace! She definitely did it on purpose!
This girl is very strange. She hardly moves, yet she can perfectly block all of his flying blades!
Most importantly, the brat is now radiating an unprecedented aura of malevolence. With this strange posture of half-squatting on one knee, Shen Yuanqing has a strong premonition that she is about to launch an attack.
baffling……
He's just a short guy, what's so scary about him!
Despite thinking this, Shen Yuanqing dared not move.
He and his servants had a lot of practice experience, but they had never seen anyone pose in such a strange way. They couldn't understand what the other person was doing at all.
"Who told you that short people can't use long knives? And—"
Tang Xichun pressed down with her left foot, gathering her strength, and stomped on the ring with a muffled thud, pressing her body even lower.
This is the signal to launch an attack.
Shen Yuanqing didn't dare to blink, and even his breathing became much softer.
what else?
Shen Yuanqing's eyes were stinging from the intense focus.
"besides."
A low, harsh female voice sounded from behind.
!!
Shen Yuanqing was immediately terrified, his hair standing on end. It was almost a conditioned reflex of his sixth sense to save his life. He subconsciously activated his spiritual power to protect himself, turned around in horror, and saw out of the corner of his eye that a pair of gloomy eyes were locked on him.
"I hate it when people say I'm short!"
Tang Xichun loosened her grip on the blade with her left hand, swung her right arm with the blade, and unleashed a powerful surge of spiritual energy around her. Shen Yuanqing felt as if he had been slapped hard by a giant wave, and his entire body flew out like a kite with its string cut.
Still as a virgin, swift as thunder.
After taking off, Shen Yuanqing realized what had just happened. That guy named Tang Xichun had teleported behind him at a terrifying speed and launched an attack, slamming him, who was hiding in the corner, into the diagonal crevice of the arena barrier with a single slash.
The audience below the stage erupted in uproar, equally astonished by Tang Xichun's speed.
"boom--"
With a muffled thud, Shen Yuanqing's vision immediately went black, and his blood surged. The transparent barrier wall cracked under the impact, and after a few seconds, it began to shatter, causing the nearby spectators to gasp in horror.
Zhang Benyi's temples throbbed with anger, and he pulled out his Wind-Listening Ruler.
"The investigation team volunteers urgently need help. The barrier of Arena No. 1 has been broken. Please provide support from the logistics department."
Soon, a muffled "Received" came from the Wind Listening Ruler.
Amidst the clamor of onlookers, Shen Yuanqing blinked hard, and as his vision gradually returned, he saw a figure floating in front of him. Tang Xichun stood on a long sword, her hands in her pockets, hovering in mid-air.
Seeing that Shen Yuanqing had regained consciousness, Tang Xichun grinned and said, "Don't cry when you get knocked off the stage later."
Shen Yuanqing opened his mouth, but was kicked hard by the other party and slammed to the ground.
His body suddenly plummeted, the pain almost causing him to spit out a mouthful of blood. Shen Yuanqing opened his eyes wide, staring blankly at the dome, realizing a cruel reality.
—The gap is too big.
how so?
"Shen Yuanqing is out of bounds!"
Zhang Benyi announced loudly: "This match is over. Shen Yuanqing is eliminated, and Tang Xichun advances. Please wait for further notice from the next round contestants."
The logistics team surged onto the stage, but Tang Xichun didn't even glance at the disheveled and stunned Shen Yuanqing before turning and walking off the stage.
"You talk too much."
...
Qin Xiuluo asked with great interest, "How is it? Is it good-looking?"
Tangxi checked the video with satisfaction: "The child has grown up!"
They even knew to show mercy.
“Teacher Qin,” Gui Fang said, peeking halfway out from behind a wall, “the formation and potions are ready.”
"Okay, call me if you encounter anything you don't know," Qin Xiuluo waved to Gui Fang, "Go on, Pipi."
Pipi thought she was just there to freeload, and was munching on snacks on the coffee table when she heard this. The snacks fell from her paws, her rabbit ears perked up, and she slowly looked at Qin Xiuluo.
"Where am I going? What am I going to do?"
Gui Fang floated over silently, stretched out his skeletal hand, and picked up Pipi like a claw machine.
"Restore your true form."
Pipi was terrified and struggled violently: "Ah! Then I'll die again! No, no! I'm afraid of the pain!"
"It doesn't hurt."
Pipi was furious: "Ugh! You've never died!"
"I said it doesn't hurt, so it doesn't hurt."
After Pipi and Guifang disappeared into the wall amidst their bickering, the office returned to silence.
Tang Xi pointed to the wall where Gui Fang had disappeared, "Once it regains its true form, it can bypass the contract and retrieve its primordial soul?"
"Yes, it will take some time. Come again tomorrow and you will see Pipi's true form. Don't worry, we won't do anything we're not sure of."
Qin Xiuluo slumped into the soft sofa. "Now that there are no outsiders, let's get down to business, Tang Xihe."
"……What?"
Qin Xiuluo glanced at him sideways and stopped smiling.
"How do you possess an inner core? Do you have an ancient cultivation manual?"
Tangxi felt a jolt in her heart.
Seeing his silence, Qin Xiuluo asked again, "Or... have you been to the Fairy World?"
Tang Xihe appeared calm and sat down opposite Qin Xiuluo. After composing herself, she spoke: "I've never been to the Immortal Realm, but how do you know I have an inner core?"
"You're very suspicious!" Qin Xiuluo snapped his fingers, and the snacks and crumbs on the coffee table automatically lined up and jumped into the trash can. "I've suspected you for a long time. High mission completion rate and large quantity."
"..."
Does a high level of completion seem suspicious?
Tangxi was sweating profusely, realizing she had been too complacent.
"Moreover, my glasses are magical artifacts modified from fragments of the Fu family's reconnaissance mirror—"
Qin Xiuluo tapped the silver-gray temples of his glasses on his face, "It can see through the spiritual veins of each person."
Tangxi and Liaoran asked, "So, Teacher, when you first used this magic artifact to look at me, you actually discovered that I had an inner core?"
"Yes... You were a sophomore in college back then, right? When I saw you had an inner core, I didn't immediately think of it as an ancient cultivation method. After all, you're from the Tang family, and I assumed your Tang family had come up with some strange cultivation method again—"
Qin Xiuluo suddenly paused, covered his mouth, and said, "Sorry, that's not what I meant."
"It's alright. It's no secret that the Tang family has been spreading their genes everywhere for that one in ten thousand chance," Tang Xi said indifferently.
Qin Xiuluo pondered for a moment before speaking again, "I think I need to be honest with you about something first. The reason I approached you, besides hoping you could help Gui Fang find the 'Disintegration' Heart-Cleansing Flute, is also about something else... a cultivation technique."
Tangxi adopted a listening posture.
"Before coming to the University of Magic, I was a citizen of Fairyland."
Tangxi and Weiwei opened their eyes wide.
Qin Xiuluo is actually a 'citizen of the Fairy Realm'?
This is a detail that was not mentioned in the original work!
Tang Xihe: "Are you from the fairy world?"
"This is the first time I've seen such a big expression on your face," Qin Xiuluo chuckled. "Do you know about the curse of the Guifang family?"
"I know a little."
How much do you know?
Tang Xi lowered her eyes and took the teacup, her reflection in the warm water mirroring her own. In truth, she could no longer recall the original story, piecing it together only from fragmented and hazy memories.
"The first patriarch of the Guifang family, Guifang Fu, revealed the Guifang family's unique cultivation method in the Immortal Realm six hundred years ago. This method can maintain the body at the critical point of almost dissolving into an immortal. By cultivating with this method, cultivators can maximize their lifespan and at the same time refine their spiritual veins to a higher degree."
"After the cultivation method was made public, Gui Fangfu became a guest of the Immortal Alliance, specifically guiding cultivators with suitable physiques to cultivate again using this method. Gui Fangfu selected seven disciples from among the many talents provided by the Immortal Alliance as test candidates for 'immortality'."
"There is a limit to what a cultivator can withstand, just like a balloon. Once the limit is exceeded, the cultivator's physique cannot bear it. Under this cultivation method of rapidly accumulating spiritual power, the side effects gradually become apparent after several decades, namely, the immortals need a large number of pills to forcibly improve their physique."
"So they began to study a 'parasitic technique' that could preserve strength while remaining detached from the aging □□."
"The parasitic techniques of that time were not as simple as Pipi parasitizing an empty shell. The immortals of that time were researching parasitic techniques in the dark, like trying to describe an elephant in the dark or creating a book without words. It was still in a completely new stage."
"The immortals, engrossed in cultivation and research day and night, failed to notice the problem with the pills supplied by the Immortal Alliance. When they realized something was wrong with their physical condition, one of the immortals went berserk and slaughtered everyone in the Immortal Alliance."
"This berserk immortal is Yan Yan, the prized disciple of Gui Fangfu. His strength is comparable to Gui Fangfu's, and after going berserk, his strength has increased even more. Even if seven immortals attacked at the same time, they would still find it difficult to withstand his attack."
"Finally, Senior Yan Yan managed to regain a sliver of consciousness before exploding and dying, destroying half of the Immortal Alliance. The surviving Immortal Alliance envoy inadvertently let slip that, in order to maintain balance, the Immortal Alliance had been adding a trace of poison to the pills it supplied for a long time. The longer the pills were taken, the greater the dependence would become, gradually turning the immortals into mindless puppets."
"Fearing he would lose control, Gui Fang persuaded the other six immortals to abandon their spiritual power and start anew. He set an example by first destroying his own inner core and spiritual veins. Later, he lost his balance and fell into the evil path. From then on, the laws of Heaven settled karma, and the Gui Fang family began a 600-year bloodline curse."
"However, the other six immortals did not abandon their spiritual power. They slaughtered throughout the immortal realm and the secret realm, but they did not kill any promising cultivators in the human world. After them, the six immortals passed down the cultivation method publicly revealed by the Ghost Axe, which is still in use today."
Tang Xihe felt a little thirsty after speaking, so she lowered her head, took a sip of tea, and continued:
"Therefore, after these six immortals, it is estimated that there are not many immortal citizens left in this secret world now."
A moment of tranquility.
?
Tang Xi looked up and found Qin Xiuluo silent, with a strange expression.
"Teacher Qin?"
Qin Xiuluo recovered from his petrification and gasped, "How do you know so much!"
? ? ?
Tang Xi and He Ye froze, choking on a mouthful of strong tea: "I thought you knew more than I do! Aren't you a citizen of Wonderland?!"
"The citizens of Fairyland have no idea about these secrets! What you just described is only the tip of the iceberg that I've been investigating for decades!"
The two were silent for a few seconds, each harboring their own secrets.
—The truth we know is different.
Qin Xiuluo calmed down and tidied his hair. "The truth I found is different from what you described. According to the secret records of the Fairy Realm, the one who went berserk was named Beichenxing."
"Huh?" Tang Xi asked in surprise, "Bei Chen?"
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