Gu Xiqiao ignored the young man’s offer. His handheld computer was too small for her to operate it efficiently. She glanced at the TV fixed in the middle of the hall. For a moment, she contemplated before she synced up the visuals on the computer with the TV screen.
Seeing the TV screen switch on by itself stunned the men who were standing behind Peng Zijie. These folks all had plenty of life experiences but this scene in particular felt almost magical to them.
It’s not like this is their first time seeing someone else deduce a password and subsequently infiltrate a security system undetected. What baffled them was the fact that it took her only a matter of minutes to do so. Even the most top-of-the-line experts who were hired by the Ministry of Defense took multiple days or even more time in order to do that.
This young girl broke down a security system set up by the Ministry of Defense and a cooperating team of IT technicians within mere minutes.
No wonder the big boss had so much trust in her. After witnessing her skill and talent, these men shamefully hid away the contemptuous look in their eyes.
Pitting them two together, the young man’s comrades couldn’t help but glance at him with pitiful eyes.
“…”
As the sole person in his team in charge of IT-related matters, the young man went speechless.
Gu Xiqiao ignored their little interaction. Her slender fingers continued dancing about on the keyboard. Her pale white skin contrasted well with the dark keyboard. Her hair covered whatever facial expression she had as she continued typing away on the computer.
The surveillance footage on the screen glitched as her fingers moved, making them turn their heads over at the television screen.
Peng Zijie lit himself a cigarette which he held between his fingers. Staring at the television screen, his face was partially shrouded behind a gray veil of smoke that blew out from his mouth.
Only the young man understood what was actually going on in front of their eyes. He finally acknowledged how terrifying Gu Xiqiao was. Infiltrating the Ministry of Defense’s server was no easy task, let alone hacking into every employee’s computer while staying under the radar.
If she wanted to, disrupting the order of society within a short span of time would not pose a challenge to her in the slightest.
Her flexibility on the computer had far surpassed any of the men around him. Even he himself had no idea to which degree her mastery of the computer had reached.
The glitching of the footage finally stopped.
Gu Xiqiao put down the handheld computer and rested her feet on the coffee table. She then looked up at the young man who was standing next to her. “Doesn’t this scene look familiar to you?”
On the surveillance footage was a man, shot from the back of his head. There were also chains of digits running through the screen of his computer but because the left part of it was blocked by his body, the specifics of the code were unknown.
“This is the security system of this very base!” The young man stared at the footage anxiously before turning back to face Gu Xiqiao. “Miss Gu…”
Gu Xiqiao raised her hand to stop him from speaking further. “This security system was jointly-built with the Ministry of Defense and it is also the source of this problem.” Gu Xiqiao then spat out a line of numbers. “This man’s skills are far beyond what you all can handle. That number, call him and he might be able to help you.”
The doctors upstairs should be wrapping up their examination right this moment. Both Zhu Yuan and Gu Xiqiao led the rest of the team up to the old commander’s ward.
As they climbed the stairs, Gu Xiqiao sent a text message to Yu Ning.
For A Millenium: “You should be expecting a call from someone later.”
Yu Ning: “… I can’t believe you did it again!”
For A Millenium: “^_^”
2
Experts in this field were extremely sensitive whenever it came to digits. Although Gu Xiqiao did not repeat the line of numbers, the young man already had it burned into his mind.
He kept repeating the number in his mind. As he looked up at Gu Xiqiao walking in front of him, he exhaled slowly. He couldn’t help but laugh at the situation; the gap between him and her was simply too large to bridge. To think that he was even offering a place for her in the Ministry of Defence. She could access their server at any given time as if she was going out for a walk at the park.
“Big boss, are we looking for new recruits?” The men standing behind Peng Zijie regained their composure and finally spoke up. “Sir, she seems much more skilled than Liu Zi! If she joins our squad, she’d undoubtedly save lots of unnecessary hassle for us!”
His fellow squadmates nodded in agreement following that statement.
“…”
The young man, who was about to be casted away from his own team was at a loss for words.
Peng Zijie stubbed his cigarette. His eyes scanned across the faces of his men. “Do you all seriously think we’re worthy of having her as our squadmate?”
His men: ‘… Well it’s not a sin to imagine, right?’
1
“Big boss, what should we do about our base’s security system?” They returned to the age-old question. Goosebumps appeared down their backs when they realized that every single move they had ever made was being overlooked by some mysterious mole. Should he decide to mess with the switches, they’d all be caught like a deer in the headlights.
“Didn’t she give Liu Zi that number?” After putting out his cigarette, Peng Zijie proceeded up the stairs without further delay.
Recalling how skillful Gu Xiqiao was from before, these men stopped being so tense.
***
Upstairs, Gu Xiqiao was reading through the data displaying the new discoveries these doctors have made. After flipping through a couple of pages, she finally opened up. “He really is brain dead. However, we can use electrical stimulation pads on specific meridian points.”
“Electrical stimulation?” Zhu Yuan peered down at the bed-bound old man. “You think it’ll work?”
It seems like they had no other choice but to wait for the patient to regain consciousness; every other treatment plan had to wait until then. This was also the reason why Zhu Yuan had it tough. If his patient had, say, a problem with his heart, he’d be able to patch him right up instantly.
“It’ll work alright.” Gu Xiqiao reached out and felt the old commander’s pulse. The state of his body wasn’t too far off from what she had expected. “Zhu Yuan, you stay here with me.”
The other doctors instantly glared at Zhu Yuan enviously before storming outside.
In the room, purple sparks danced around Gu Xiqiao’s fingertips.
Zhu Yuan stared in disbelief at the lightning sparks. To be able to use special techniques of the ancient martial arts world, one must at the very least achieve the level of Fleet Foot. Not only that, it also involved one’s luck, hence why users of such power were few and far between. Personally, he knew only two individuals who possessed such an ability.
She can do it too? And judging from the way she’s handling it, she’s pretty well-experienced.
How scary could this little girl get?
Wasn’t she a dainty young lady when they first met? He was even worried that she’d get into trouble when the day came for her to step foot in the ancient martial arts world. Now, it seemed like Jiang Tong and her friends were the ones he should be worried about.
She did a terrific job hiding her skills! All Zhu Yuan thought about at the moment was how foolish he had been back then.
The sparks split into ultra-fine strands of current which flowed into the old commander’s skull.
“Senior, someone from the ancient martial arts world is responsible for the old commander’s vegetative state.” Gu Xiqiao watched as dark balls of matter emerged from the old man’s cranium. Narrowing her eyes, she funneled this ‘thing’ into a bamboo container used specifically to store such items.
The dark matter floated easily into the container.
Zhu Yuan exhaled when he heard what Gu Xiqiao said. “It isn’t too far from what I expected.”
As soon as he said that, the flat line on the heart rate-monitor started pulsing again.
“…”
‘Just like that? And he’s saved?’
The doctors standing outside were shocked by the reading on the heart rate monitor. Since they were all madmen when it came to medicine, they all flocked around the old commander’s bed and started examining his body.
“This is a miracle in the history of medicine,” said an old doctor upon completing his examination.
Another one of them removed his glasses with shaking fingers. “If news gets out about this, no doubt, the medical community would be swept off its feet once again.”
Zhu Yuan thought about the recent series of events and he couldn’t help but smile at it. “Didn’t the Americans copy us and built their own research lab? Perhaps, it’s time to remind them of the disparity between us?”
“Speaking of that, where’s Miss Gu?”
“… she left.”
“…”
***
Gu Xiqiao sent a text message to Baili Bin before waving a taxi down.
That night, after dinner, Hua Youlin sat comfortably on the sofa with a physics textbook in his hands. Gu Xiqiao sat right beside him, patiently dissecting the topics he was puzzled by with a pen.
Gu Xiqiao had been rather busy for the past few days. During this period, Hua Youlin had accumulated quite a lot of questions, which took her approximately two hours before every single question was answered.
“Sister Gu, why haven’t I seen Xixi as of late?” asked Hua Youlin who picked Haha off the floor.
Spinning the pen around her fingers, Gu Xiqiao replied, “Xixi has tons of stuff to do recently.”
“…”
‘Please tell me what ‘tons of stuff’ a mere bird could be possibly busy dealing with.’
1
“Do you have any other questions?” asked Gu Xiqiao with raised brows.
Hua Youlin shook his head.
“… no, Sister Gu.”
Very well.
Gu Xiqiao snapped her fingers and immediately went upstairs. Before she went up, she spoke loudly in the direction of the kitchen. “Mrs. Zhang, I’m heading upstairs to take a shower before I sleep!”
Mrs. Zhang emerged from the kitchen holding a glass of milk which she passed over to Hua Youlin. “Sweetie, what’s happened to your Sister Gu today?” At this hour, she’d typically be sitting next to the window, doing a sketch, or playing video games on her computer downstairs. Why is she hitting the sack so early today?”
Hua Youlin thought to himself, ‘… I’d like to know what’s going on with her too.’
***
Upstairs, Gu Xiqiao, who claimed that she was heading to bed vanished into thin air the moment she locked her room.
In the next moment, she re-appeared in the ancient martial arts world.
There was a crowd next to the Trial Tower. They seem to be chattering about something.
Located next to the Trial Tower was a pure black piece of granite, on it was displayed their individual rankings. It also contained the records of every person who has ever stepped foot in the Trial Tower.
Gu Xiqiao walked over to the granite and peered down at the names. To her amazement, she managed to find a couple of familiar names.
Yin Shaoyuan, Level 37.
Baili Bin, Level 45.
Murong Miaoxue, Level 49.
These were basically in the categories of Bone Refinement and Tendon Forging.
Gu Xiqiao looked at the top 3 names on the list.
Tang Qinghong, Level 57.
Jiang Tong, Level 61.
Jiang Shuxuan, Level 70.
Jiang Shuxuan’s ranking was from several years ago, when he had just cleared the level of Xiantian and was halfway through Houtian.
Gu Xiqiao looked away and was thinking about leaving when something changed on the screen. It was the digits that came after Jiang Tong’s name.
Jiang Tong, Level 62.
There was an uproar when that happened. “She did it! Jiang Tong has succeeded!”
“To leap from Level 50 to 61 in a single month! She has far surpassed Young Master Tang! As expected! Miss Jiang Tong’s talent is revolutionary!”
“What can I say? She’s the little demon girl after all. The way I see it, it’ll be a couple more days before her family can once again move back to the core territory and regain their former glory.
“…”
Murong Miaoxue was also standing nearby. She stopped by because she caught wind of Jiang Tong coming here to slug it out at the Trial Towers one more time.
In just one month, Jiang Tong, who initially was on the same level as her, lept from Tendon Forging straight to the level of Tong Mai. Even she couldn’t deny the shock she felt when she heard the news.
A beautiful young girl emerged from the Trial Towers. Instantly, she was surrounded by the masses.
Noticing Murong Miaoxue, who stood at the edge of the crowd, she flashed a smile at her. As of today, Murong Miaoxue was someone who was not worthy of her attention.
The look of astonishment on the face of the girl standing next Murong Miaoxue had yet to fade when she said, “Miss Murong, you can’t afford to underestimate Jiang Tong.”
“And so it would seem.” Murong Miaoxue looked away emotionlessly. She was surprisingly quick to regain her composure after that shock. “However, my target isn’t her.”
Standing in front of Jiang Tong at most would make her feel slightly pressured. Standing in front of Gu Xiqiao on the other hand would make her feel completely defenseless!
One would know right away the gap between these two characters.
Gu Xiqiao watched the crowd that had formed around Jiang Tong as she rubbed her chin. “To be able to achieve Tong Mai, not bad at all.”
Not. Bad.
She slowly made her way towards the Trial Tower. With so many people around, it was surprising when no one recognized who she was. As if she was a phantom, she walked into the Trial Tower undetected.
A state of nothingness was all that was in front of her as soon as she entered the structure.
“Little system, throw me some of the Trial Tower’s stats.” Gu Xiqiao observed a black figure standing on the opposite end of the area. This was the first level and her opponent had just walked through the door.
The black figure was not too different from a real human being. It started attacking the moment it noticed Gu Xiqiao.
Gu Xiqiao grabbed the black figure’s wrists and upon exerting her strength effortlessly, the figure disintegrated. Raising her brows in surprise, she said to herself, “It’s a body of energy, huh?”
Two pathways appeared in the void behind the black figure that has already disintegrated. One of it led to the exit while the other, to the next level. Gu Xiqiao glanced at these two entrances before finally picking the latter.
The battle on level two played out exactly like the previous one. With just a swift move, the black figure broke down instantly.
On the 20th level, Gu Xiqiao destroyed the black figure just as she did in the levels leading up to this one.
Before proceeding any further, the system’s voice broke the silence. “Beauty Qiao, all the data has already been collected.”
“Very well.” Gu Xiqiao peered at the pathway leading to level 21. Instead of pushing on, she left the place immediately.
***
Around the same time.
The elders of the ancient martial arts world were in a meeting. “Elder, the man in charge of the Trial Tower has an urgent matter to report.”
“Trial Tower? Let him in.” said the elder with a white flowing beard.
Shortly after, a boy in a green shirt came in with a horrified expression. “Elder, we have recorded someone rising from the 1st level to the 20th within ten minutes!”
“What?” The elder was wide-eyed. A jump from level 1 to level 20 within ten minutes? The only person who was able to pull this off was Jiang Shuxuan. For a moment, he was deep in thought before he asked, “Are you referring to Jiang Tong, from the Jiang family?”
It wasn’t impossible if it was her they were talking about. Seems like yet another prodigy was about to rise up within the ancient martial arts world.
“No” The boy shook his head. “Miss Jiang Tong was already outside the Trial Tower when that happened, and…” He looked down at Jiang Tong’s battle records. It didn’t seem like she was capable of pulling off such a feat.
If it wasn’t Jiang Tong, who was it?!
The elders stayed up all night trying to locate the person who miraculously rose from the 1st level to the 20th in just ten minutes. They put in great effort in search of that individual but to no avail. This person seemed almost like a phantom, appearing and disappearing out of thin air. Even the records within the Trial Tower contained no traces of that champion.
They had no choice but to give up the wild goose chase after searching continuously for a few days.
***
Southern China, at the top of a mountain.
“Yi Tong, what are you smiling at?” Yi Tiao tucked away his compass and was packing things into his bag, preparing to leave when he noticed Yi Tong grinning at his phone.
Yi Tong looked up and chuckled mysteriously. He then shoved his phone in front of Jiang Shuxuan’s face. “Boss, look at the document the elder has just sent you.” Since they were outside, it was impossible to print the document out, so he just showed it directly to Jiang Shuxuan.
Jiang Shuxuan picked the phone up and began scanning through the lines. The more he read it a subtle smile broke across his chiseled face.
When he reached the next document however, his fingers froze up.
[Three days ago, an unknown individual broke into the Trial Tower and managed to clear 20 levels within a span of 10 minutes. The elders suspect it is the work of Young Master Jiang. Could you please ask the man himself if he is responsible for this?]
Jiang Shuxuan raised his brows before seriously typing out two simple words.
[I wasnt.]
1
After that, he passed the phone back to Yi Tong. He then whipped out his own phone and sent a text message to Gu Xiqiao.
[Were you frolicking in the ancient martial arts world?]
Yi Tong got his phone back and Yi Tiao started explaining. “Previously, Big Boss advised the elders not to check on the Peace Squad. Of course, they ignored his advice and sent a team of enlightened disciples over. Not only did these guys leave empty-handed, they even got beaten to a pulp by the Peace Squad. I really wonder just what the hell sort of people these peacekeepers are. They’ve got balls for certain! Stomping out the elders’ forces like they’re a bunch of cockroaches and all!”
Yi Tiao contemplated for a moment.
“When we get back, I’d like to know more about these guys.”
The both of them agreed to go together. Then they started chattering unendingly.
“Boss!” Yi Bing hastily ran over. “Miss Cecily would like to meet you!”
Jiang Shuxuan was waiting for Gu Xiqiao’s reply on the phone. His face did not change one bit when he heard what Yi Bing said. Bluntly, he turned around with pursed lips and said, “No.”
The air around Jiang Shuxuan warped after that and his figure disappeared into thin air.
Gu Xiqiao ignored the young man’s offer. His handheld computer was too small for her to operate it efficiently. She glanced at the TV fixed in the middle of the hall. For a moment, she contemplated before she synced up the visuals on the computer with the TV screen.
Seeing the TV screen switch on by itself stunned the men who were standing behind Peng Zijie. These folks all had plenty of life experiences but this scene in particular felt almost magical to them.
It’s not like this is their first time seeing someone else deduce a password and subsequently infiltrate a security system undetected. What baffled them was the fact that it took her only a matter of minutes to do so. Even the most top-of-the-line experts who were hired by the Ministry of Defense took multiple days or even more time in order to do that.
This young girl broke down a security system set up by the Ministry of Defense and a cooperating team of IT technicians within mere minutes.
No wonder the big boss had so much trust in her. After witnessing her skill and talent, these men shamefully hid away the contemptuous look in their eyes.
Pitting them two together, the young man’s comrades couldn’t help but glance at him with pitiful eyes.
“…”
As the sole person in his team in charge of IT-related matters, the young man went speechless.
Gu Xiqiao ignored their little interaction. Her slender fingers continued dancing about on the keyboard. Her pale white skin contrasted well with the dark keyboard. Her hair covered whatever facial expression she had as she continued typing away on the computer.
The surveillance footage on the screen glitched as her fingers moved, making them turn their heads over at the television screen.
Peng Zijie lit himself a cigarette which he held between his fingers. Staring at the television screen, his face was partially shrouded behind a gray veil of smoke that blew out from his mouth.
Only the young man understood what was actually going on in front of their eyes. He finally acknowledged how terrifying Gu Xiqiao was. Infiltrating the Ministry of Defense’s server was no easy task, let alone hacking into every employee’s computer while staying under the radar.
If she wanted to, disrupting the order of society within a short span of time would not pose a challenge to her in the slightest.
Her flexibility on the computer had far surpassed any of the men around him. Even he himself had no idea to which degree her mastery of the computer had reached.
The glitching of the footage finally stopped.
Gu Xiqiao put down the handheld computer and rested her feet on the coffee table. She then looked up at the young man who was standing next to her. “Doesn’t this scene look familiar to you?”
On the surveillance footage was a man, shot from the back of his head. There were also chains of digits running through the screen of his computer but because the left part of it was blocked by his body, the specifics of the code were unknown.
“This is the security system of this very base!” The young man stared at the footage anxiously before turning back to face Gu Xiqiao. “Miss Gu…”
Gu Xiqiao raised her hand to stop him from speaking further. “This security system was jointly-built with the Ministry of Defense and it is also the source of this problem.” Gu Xiqiao then spat out a line of numbers. “This man’s skills are far beyond what you all can handle. That number, call him and he might be able to help you.”
The doctors upstairs should be wrapping up their examination right this moment. Both Zhu Yuan and Gu Xiqiao led the rest of the team up to the old commander’s ward.
As they climbed the stairs, Gu Xiqiao sent a text message to Yu Ning.
For A Millenium: “You should be expecting a call from someone later.”
Yu Ning: “… I can’t believe you did it again!”
For A Millenium: “^_^”
2
Experts in this field were extremely sensitive whenever it came to digits. Although Gu Xiqiao did not repeat the line of numbers, the young man already had it burned into his mind.
He kept repeating the number in his mind. As he looked up at Gu Xiqiao walking in front of him, he exhaled slowly. He couldn’t help but laugh at the situation; the gap between him and her was simply too large to bridge. To think that he was even offering a place for her in the Ministry of Defence. She could access their server at any given time as if she was going out for a walk at the park.
“Big boss, are we looking for new recruits?” The men standing behind Peng Zijie regained their composure and finally spoke up. “Sir, she seems much more skilled than Liu Zi! If she joins our squad, she’d undoubtedly save lots of unnecessary hassle for us!”
His fellow squadmates nodded in agreement following that statement.
“…”
The young man, who was about to be casted away from his own team was at a loss for words.
Peng Zijie stubbed his cigarette. His eyes scanned across the faces of his men. “Do you all seriously think we’re worthy of having her as our squadmate?”
His men: ‘… Well it’s not a sin to imagine, right?’
1
“Big boss, what should we do about our base’s security system?” They returned to the age-old question. Goosebumps appeared down their backs when they realized that every single move they had ever made was being overlooked by some mysterious mole. Should he decide to mess with the switches, they’d all be caught like a deer in the headlights.
“Didn’t she give Liu Zi that number?” After putting out his cigarette, Peng Zijie proceeded up the stairs without further delay.
Recalling how skillful Gu Xiqiao was from before, these men stopped being so tense.
***
Upstairs, Gu Xiqiao was reading through the data displaying the new discoveries these doctors have made. After flipping through a couple of pages, she finally opened up. “He really is brain dead. However, we can use electrical stimulation pads on specific meridian points.”
“Electrical stimulation?” Zhu Yuan peered down at the bed-bound old man. “You think it’ll work?”
It seems like they had no other choice but to wait for the patient to regain consciousness; every other treatment plan had to wait until then. This was also the reason why Zhu Yuan had it tough. If his patient had, say, a problem with his heart, he’d be able to patch him right up instantly.
“It’ll work alright.” Gu Xiqiao reached out and felt the old commander’s pulse. The state of his body wasn’t too far off from what she had expected. “Zhu Yuan, you stay here with me.”
The other doctors instantly glared at Zhu Yuan enviously before storming outside.
In the room, purple sparks danced around Gu Xiqiao’s fingertips.
Zhu Yuan stared in disbelief at the lightning sparks. To be able to use special techniques of the ancient martial arts world, one must at the very least achieve the level of Fleet Foot. Not only that, it also involved one’s luck, hence why users of such power were few and far between. Personally, he knew only two individuals who possessed such an ability.
She can do it too? And judging from the way she’s handling it, she’s pretty well-experienced.
How scary could this little girl get?
Wasn’t she a dainty young lady when they first met? He was even worried that she’d get into trouble when the day came for her to step foot in the ancient martial arts world. Now, it seemed like Jiang Tong and her friends were the ones he should be worried about.
She did a terrific job hiding her skills! All Zhu Yuan thought about at the moment was how foolish he had been back then.
The sparks split into ultra-fine strands of current which flowed into the old commander’s skull.
“Senior, someone from the ancient martial arts world is responsible for the old commander’s vegetative state.” Gu Xiqiao watched as dark balls of matter emerged from the old man’s cranium. Narrowing her eyes, she funneled this ‘thing’ into a bamboo container used specifically to store such items.
The dark matter floated easily into the container.
Zhu Yuan exhaled when he heard what Gu Xiqiao said. “It isn’t too far from what I expected.”
As soon as he said that, the flat line on the heart rate-monitor started pulsing again.
“…”
‘Just like that? And he’s saved?’
The doctors standing outside were shocked by the reading on the heart rate monitor. Since they were all madmen when it came to medicine, they all flocked around the old commander’s bed and started examining his body.
“This is a miracle in the history of medicine,” said an old doctor upon completing his examination.
Another one of them removed his glasses with shaking fingers. “If news gets out about this, no doubt, the medical community would be swept off its feet once again.”
Zhu Yuan thought about the recent series of events and he couldn’t help but smile at it. “Didn’t the Americans copy us and built their own research lab? Perhaps, it’s time to remind them of the disparity between us?”
“Speaking of that, where’s Miss Gu?”
“… she left.”
“…”
***
Gu Xiqiao sent a text message to Baili Bin before waving a taxi down.
That night, after dinner, Hua Youlin sat comfortably on the sofa with a physics textbook in his hands. Gu Xiqiao sat right beside him, patiently dissecting the topics he was puzzled by with a pen.
Gu Xiqiao had been rather busy for the past few days. During this period, Hua Youlin had accumulated quite a lot of questions, which took her approximately two hours before every single question was answered.
“Sister Gu, why haven’t I seen Xixi as of late?” asked Hua Youlin who picked Haha off the floor.
Spinning the pen around her fingers, Gu Xiqiao replied, “Xixi has tons of stuff to do recently.”
“…”
‘Please tell me what ‘tons of stuff’ a mere bird could be possibly busy dealing with.’
1
“Do you have any other questions?” asked Gu Xiqiao with raised brows.
Hua Youlin shook his head.
“… no, Sister Gu.”
Very well.
Gu Xiqiao snapped her fingers and immediately went upstairs. Before she went up, she spoke loudly in the direction of the kitchen. “Mrs. Zhang, I’m heading upstairs to take a shower before I sleep!”
Mrs. Zhang emerged from the kitchen holding a glass of milk which she passed over to Hua Youlin. “Sweetie, what’s happened to your Sister Gu today?” At this hour, she’d typically be sitting next to the window, doing a sketch, or playing video games on her computer downstairs. Why is she hitting the sack so early today?”
Hua Youlin thought to himself, ‘… I’d like to know what’s going on with her too.’
***
Upstairs, Gu Xiqiao, who claimed that she was heading to bed vanished into thin air the moment she locked her room.
In the next moment, she re-appeared in the ancient martial arts world.
There was a crowd next to the Trial Tower. They seem to be chattering about something.
Located next to the Trial Tower was a pure black piece of granite, on it was displayed their individual rankings. It also contained the records of every person who has ever stepped foot in the Trial Tower.
Gu Xiqiao walked over to the granite and peered down at the names. To her amazement, she managed to find a couple of familiar names.
Yin Shaoyuan, Level 37.
Baili Bin, Level 45.
Murong Miaoxue, Level 49.
These were basically in the categories of Bone Refinement and Tendon Forging.
Gu Xiqiao looked at the top 3 names on the list.
Tang Qinghong, Level 57.
Jiang Tong, Level 61.
Jiang Shuxuan, Level 70.
Jiang Shuxuan’s ranking was from several years ago, when he had just cleared the level of Xiantian and was halfway through Houtian.
Gu Xiqiao looked away and was thinking about leaving when something changed on the screen. It was the digits that came after Jiang Tong’s name.
Jiang Tong, Level 62.
There was an uproar when that happened. “She did it! Jiang Tong has succeeded!”
“To leap from Level 50 to 61 in a single month! She has far surpassed Young Master Tang! As expected! Miss Jiang Tong’s talent is revolutionary!”
“What can I say? She’s the little demon girl after all. The way I see it, it’ll be a couple more days before her family can once again move back to the core territory and regain their former glory.
“…”
Murong Miaoxue was also standing nearby. She stopped by because she caught wind of Jiang Tong coming here to slug it out at the Trial Towers one more time.
In just one month, Jiang Tong, who initially was on the same level as her, lept from Tendon Forging straight to the level of Tong Mai. Even she couldn’t deny the shock she felt when she heard the news.
A beautiful young girl emerged from the Trial Towers. Instantly, she was surrounded by the masses.
Noticing Murong Miaoxue, who stood at the edge of the crowd, she flashed a smile at her. As of today, Murong Miaoxue was someone who was not worthy of her attention.
The look of astonishment on the face of the girl standing next Murong Miaoxue had yet to fade when she said, “Miss Murong, you can’t afford to underestimate Jiang Tong.”
“And so it would seem.” Murong Miaoxue looked away emotionlessly. She was surprisingly quick to regain her composure after that shock. “However, my target isn’t her.”
Standing in front of Jiang Tong at most would make her feel slightly pressured. Standing in front of Gu Xiqiao on the other hand would make her feel completely defenseless!
One would know right away the gap between these two characters.
Gu Xiqiao watched the crowd that had formed around Jiang Tong as she rubbed her chin. “To be able to achieve Tong Mai, not bad at all.”
Not. Bad.
She slowly made her way towards the Trial Tower. With so many people around, it was surprising when no one recognized who she was. As if she was a phantom, she walked into the Trial Tower undetected.
A state of nothingness was all that was in front of her as soon as she entered the structure.
“Little system, throw me some of the Trial Tower’s stats.” Gu Xiqiao observed a black figure standing on the opposite end of the area. This was the first level and her opponent had just walked through the door.
The black figure was not too different from a real human being. It started attacking the moment it noticed Gu Xiqiao.
Gu Xiqiao grabbed the black figure’s wrists and upon exerting her strength effortlessly, the figure disintegrated. Raising her brows in surprise, she said to herself, “It’s a body of energy, huh?”
Two pathways appeared in the void behind the black figure that has already disintegrated. One of it led to the exit while the other, to the next level. Gu Xiqiao glanced at these two entrances before finally picking the latter.
The battle on level two played out exactly like the previous one. With just a swift move, the black figure broke down instantly.
On the 20th level, Gu Xiqiao destroyed the black figure just as she did in the levels leading up to this one.
Before proceeding any further, the system’s voice broke the silence. “Beauty Qiao, all the data has already been collected.”
“Very well.” Gu Xiqiao peered at the pathway leading to level 21. Instead of pushing on, she left the place immediately.
***
Around the same time.
The elders of the ancient martial arts world were in a meeting. “Elder, the man in charge of the Trial Tower has an urgent matter to report.”
“Trial Tower? Let him in.” said the elder with a white flowing beard.
Shortly after, a boy in a green shirt came in with a horrified expression. “Elder, we have recorded someone rising from the 1st level to the 20th within ten minutes!”
“What?” The elder was wide-eyed. A jump from level 1 to level 20 within ten minutes? The only person who was able to pull this off was Jiang Shuxuan. For a moment, he was deep in thought before he asked, “Are you referring to Jiang Tong, from the Jiang family?”
It wasn’t impossible if it was her they were talking about. Seems like yet another prodigy was about to rise up within the ancient martial arts world.
“No” The boy shook his head. “Miss Jiang Tong was already outside the Trial Tower when that happened, and…” He looked down at Jiang Tong’s battle records. It didn’t seem like she was capable of pulling off such a feat.
If it wasn’t Jiang Tong, who was it?!
The elders stayed up all night trying to locate the person who miraculously rose from the 1st level to the 20th in just ten minutes. They put in great effort in search of that individual but to no avail. This person seemed almost like a phantom, appearing and disappearing out of thin air. Even the records within the Trial Tower contained no traces of that champion.
They had no choice but to give up the wild goose chase after searching continuously for a few days.
***
Southern China, at the top of a mountain.
“Yi Tong, what are you smiling at?” Yi Tiao tucked away his compass and was packing things into his bag, preparing to leave when he noticed Yi Tong grinning at his phone.
Yi Tong looked up and chuckled mysteriously. He then shoved his phone in front of Jiang Shuxuan’s face. “Boss, look at the document the elder has just sent you.” Since they were outside, it was impossible to print the document out, so he just showed it directly to Jiang Shuxuan.
Jiang Shuxuan picked the phone up and began scanning through the lines. The more he read it a subtle smile broke across his chiseled face.
When he reached the next document however, his fingers froze up.
[Three days ago, an unknown individual broke into the Trial Tower and managed to clear 20 levels within a span of 10 minutes. The elders suspect it is the work of Young Master Jiang. Could you please ask the man himself if he is responsible for this?]
Jiang Shuxuan raised his brows before seriously typing out two simple words.
[I wasnt.]
1
After that, he passed the phone back to Yi Tong. He then whipped out his own phone and sent a text message to Gu Xiqiao.
[Were you frolicking in the ancient martial arts world?]
Yi Tong got his phone back and Yi Tiao started explaining. “Previously, Big Boss advised the elders not to check on the Peace Squad. Of course, they ignored his advice and sent a team of enlightened disciples over. Not only did these guys leave empty-handed, they even got beaten to a pulp by the Peace Squad. I really wonder just what the hell sort of people these peacekeepers are. They’ve got balls for certain! Stomping out the elders’ forces like they’re a bunch of cockroaches and all!”
Yi Tiao contemplated for a moment.
“When we get back, I’d like to know more about these guys.”
The both of them agreed to go together. Then they started chattering unendingly.
“Boss!” Yi Bing hastily ran over. “Miss Cecily would like to meet you!”
Jiang Shuxuan was waiting for Gu Xiqiao’s reply on the phone. His face did not change one bit when he heard what Yi Bing said. Bluntly, he turned around with pursed lips and said, “No.”
The air around Jiang Shuxuan warped after that and his figure disappeared into thin air.
