Chapter 117

Chapter 117

Xie Qingling came out of Ling Fang’s dorm room and ran into Shen Huaizhou.

His face wore a look of shock that said, “You had a meeting without me?” A moment later, it returned to normal.

With his usual expression, he said, “Shall we? Cafeteria.”

Going to the cafeteria together had become the thing they did most often when they spent time together.

Of course, eating there was a very happy occasion, so Shen Huaizhou was quite willing to go with Xie Qingling.

She nodded. “Let’s go. I have something to tell you, actually.”

Talking as they walked, they reached the cafeteria and picked up several baskets of steamed soup dumplings.

As Xie Qingling stuffed dumplings into her mouth, she told him about Ling Fang.

The more Shen Huaizhou heard, the more slowly he ate. His expression grew dark.

“Kill them all!” he said viciously.

Xie Qingling fell silent. Wiping her mouth, she said, “Be careful on patrol these days. The Director said the Eleventh Realm’s counterattacks have grown fiercer. The fiercer they fight back, the greater the Operations Squads’ success must be. We have to hold on until the first light of dawn is about to break.”

Until the first light of dawn broke.

Shen Huaizhou nodded.

They finished breakfast, then went to their patrol area.

The increase in ghosts and monsters on the streets was unmistakable.

When more of them gathered, trouble usually followed.

Chaos, violence, bloodshed…

These were all things the Eleventh Realm wanted to see.

They could draw tremendous energy from such darkness, creating fertile ground for an evil god to be born.

Six members were on duty in Xie Qingling’s district. In a single day, they encountered four special incidents.

Every one required a fight; none could be subdued with a Ghost-Binding Banner alone.

Normally, they would have had no choice but to call an Operations Squad for support. But with Xie Qingling there, she could use the bones buried underground to join the fighting, greatly easing the strain of their shortage of personnel. Order on Seventh and Eighth Streets in the eastern district remained relatively stable, rather than continuing to crumble.

The fighting in other districts, however, was already becoming desperate.

All that day, Tang Yuanxiao’s Bifang kept circling and flying overhead, rushing from one place that needed support to the next.

Its cries changed from loud and clear to low and hoarse. It seemed that even Bifang was close to buckling under the strain of these relentless flights.

By the end of the day, Xie Qingling was sticky all over with unidentified fluids.

Blood and monster slime clung to her in a tacky mess, making her horribly uncomfortable.

She reached the place where she had agreed to meet Shen Huaizhou, and they headed to the cafeteria together.

Ling Fang had been waiting for some time.

Only when he saw them return unharmed did he breathe a sigh of relief.

“You’re back,” he said. “Let’s eat.”

They nodded, then walked into the cafeteria in step once more.

The air inside no longer smelled of food. Instead, it was filled with the thick, sickening stench of blood.

Everyone returning from a mission carried some trace of that smell. With so many people there, it overwhelmed the aroma of food.

The two utterly different smells mingled: pleasant and unpleasant, appetizing food and blood, all tangled together until they made a person queasy and want to vomit.

Yet everyone in the cafeteria, even the woman serving food, looked perfectly normal, as though they had grown used to this nauseating scene.

Xie Qingling likewise endured the smell turning her stomach, got a meal, and carried her tray in search of an empty seat.

She spotted Tang Yuanxiao, also covered in blood, his clothes torn and ragged as though he had thrown himself into a fire to roast. She went over and sat beside him.

Seeing this, Ling Fang and Shen Huaizhou came over and sat beside him too.

Tang Yuanxiao, who had been eating alone, was suddenly surrounded.

He stared at the three of them in horror.

He wanted to say something, but he was so exhausted today that he could not even work up the anger. He swallowed his words, silently picked up his tray, and tried to leave.

Xie Qingling swiftly held him in place. “Don’t go. Since we’re all here, let’s eat together.”

…It was his seat. He had got here first! Could she show a little awareness that she was the latecomer? She was the one who ought to leave!

Tang Yuanxiao glared at her resentfully, then sat back down in resignation.

Xie Qingling had not come over just to make his life difficult. It was simply that the apprenticeship they had agreed on yesterday was still unsettled. Only after seeing him agree in person could she feel reassured.

“Yesterday, you -”

“Shut up!” Tang Yuanxiao reacted violently. “No talking about yesterday!”

“Then yesterday, I -”

“Shut up, shut up! None of it!”

“Then I -”

“Fine, fine.” Tang Yuanxiao looked thoroughly irritated. “We’ll do it your way. Come find me when you’re free.”

Xie Qingling nodded with a broad smile. “All right. I’m free right now. I’ll come find you in a bit.”

“You…” He had never met anyone this hard to shake off. His brows knitted tightly. “You’re in far too much of a hurry!”

“Time is short. I can’t help it. The sooner I get stronger, the sooner I can take out a few more opponents.”

“You’re so annoying.”

“Am I? I’m pretty well behaved. I won’t bother you.”

“You’re so annoying.”

“…”

She no longer particularly wanted to talk to him. It was a waste of breath.

Xie Qingling quickly finished dinner, then hauled a thoroughly unwilling Tang Yuanxiao out of the cafeteria and off to the training ground.

Shen Huaizhou watched them leave, bewildered.

Only now did he finally find an opening to ask Ling Fang a question.
“Director, what happened between those two?”

How did it seem as though a whole host of extraordinary things he knew nothing about had happened in a single night?

Ling Fang rubbed between his brows. “Don’t ask me. I don’t know either.”

Shen Huaizhou could only fall silent.

–

At the training ground.

Standing before Xie Qingling, Tang Yuanxiao said, “I didn’t train in any orthodox school. I just learned whatever I could. I care about what works, not martial honor.”

Xie Qingling: “…” This was the first time she had seen anyone admit so frankly to having no martial honor.

Tang Yuanxiao was perfectly serious. “If I teach you something wrong and someone spots it when you’re out there, all I ask is that you don’t mention my name. Don’t embarrass me.”

“…” Xie Qingling nodded. “Yes, Master. Understood, Master.”

“You don’t have to call me Master. I was forced into this!” he said.

“All right. Let’s start with footwork.”

“You’ve practiced Flower Hidden Beneath the Leaves, so you should have done horse stances and standing exercises. You have the foundations. Next, I’ll teach you some Baguazhang footwork…”

As he spoke, Tang Yuanxiao gave her a demonstration.

“Some people enter this world and gain divine abilities, then rely on a Spirit Wielder’s powerful physique and those abilities to carry them through everything. But that has a fatal flaw – if they’re ever cornered and can’t use their divine abilities, they become fish on a chopping board, helpless to stop anyone cutting them up.”

“A Spirit Wielder’s physique is powerful, but your opponents aren’t weak either. You still need hard, dedicated training if you want to live a little longer.”

“Tempering your flesh and bones and strengthening your body doesn’t just hone your mind and will. It also leaves you something to fall back on when you’ve reached a dead end.”

Tang Yuanxiao paused after finishing, then added, “Those weren’t my words. Ling Fang said that.”

“…Oh.” Xie Qingling agreed. “I think the Director is right.”

“Of course, you’re a very good teacher too.”

Tang Yuanxiao gave a snort, looking rather pleased with himself.

On her first day learning from him, Xie Qingling stayed only an hour before saying goodbye.

After learning the techniques, she still had to practice the fundamentals on her own; otherwise, they would be nothing but empty flourishes. She knew she could not rush this.

–

Two days later, Shen Huaizhou finally learned what Xie Qingling and Tang Yuanxiao were up to.

Every day after work, she met Tang Yuanxiao at the training ground. It would have been difficult for Shen Huaizhou not to notice.

Once he discovered that Tang Yuanxiao was giving Xie Qingling private lessons, he openly joined them and demanded, as though it were only right, that this ready-made master take him on too.

Tang Yuanxiao sneered. “Forget it. Teaching her is one thing. You? I don’t want to.”

Looking at his mocking face, Shen Huaizhou chose the simplest way to solve the problem.

“Let’s fight,” he said.

“If I win, you teach me. If I lose, I teach you.”

Tang Yuanxiao: “…”

He stared incredulously at the man in the skirt.

Did Shen Huaizhou actually know what he was saying?

Win or lose, Tang Yuanxiao got nothing out of it.

Was he out of his mind?

There was no way Tang Yuanxiao would agree to such an absurd demand.

But Xie Qingling had already taken it upon herself to agree for him, even arranging what came next. “All right. Fight right here. I’ll be the referee.”

Tang Yuanxiao: “…”

Were all these people out of their minds?!!!

Why was he hanging around with them at all?!

If the Third Operations Squad saw this, they would definitely laugh at him!!

And yet…

In the end, Shen Huaizhou joined them anyway.

Nothing Tang Yuanxiao said to drive him away or throw him out had any effect.

Even when he said he would not teach Shen Huaizhou, the latter simply watched from the side as he taught Xie Qingling.

If Tang Yuanxiao would not teach him, he would steal the lessons himself. And he learned fast.

After some thought, Tang Yuanxiao decided he could not let the man learn everything for free without even giving him any credit. So he taught them together.

Fortunately, the three got along very harmoniously – though Tang Yuanxiao did not think so, that was how it looked from the outside.

Tang Yuanxiao felt only that he was surrounded by two freaks.

Both were already strong, both were eager to learn, and both improved rapidly.

At first, his plan was to land a few dirty hits while feeding them moves in training, using his position to settle personal scores. Initially, he did succeed.

Watching them get knocked flat felt wonderful.

But as time went on, Tang Yuanxiao lost that pleasure.

Because Xie Qingling and Shen Huaizhou would gang up and beat him together!!

They even dressed it up with fine words: pressure created motivation, and they wanted Tang Yuanxiao to improve and grow with them!

Even without divine abilities, having these two rain punches and kicks on him was terrifying, all right?!

Tang Yuanxiao’s days became a torment, painfully hard to endure. If he had known that refusing the title of Master would get him beaten by both of them, he might as well have become their master.

A little over a month later.

The weather grew colder and colder.

With the end of the year approaching, Old Royal City was bitterly cold, its atmosphere dark and oppressive.

The entire headquarters seemed shrouded in gloom. Even the howling wind was louder than the human voices.

One day, after their lesson, Tang Yuanxiao called them both over.

“My Director told me today that headquarters’ Selection Tournament is about to begin. You’d better prepare.”