Chapter 281: Couldn’t Go On Like This

The news that Felix had met a mysterious strong master was quickly spread, but it didn’t cause any massive waves mainly because a lot of people didn’t believe it.

“Young Master Nozawa, I heard that Felix had an encounter with a powerful master. Even Felix was frightened,” A man in a black suit leaned forward to say.

Nozawa raised his head slightly, a glint reflecting in his eyes, a trace of disdain crossing his face. “Felix? That trash?”

The man in black lowered his head, chuckling. “Of course Felix is unable to be compared to you, Young Master. However, the master that he said…”

“You’re worrying too much. Who else in this Bahuang Forest that can compare to our Young Master Nozawa? Even the elders are confident that Young Master Nozawa will obtain the first place this year, what are you afraid of?” Another man in black patted the first one, smiling without worry.

“The most important thing now is to find those mythical beasts that escaped,” Nozawa said.

“That’s right.” The first man said, a serious expression on his face. “But the mythical beast was strong, and it shouldn’t be appearing on the edge of Bahuang Forest usually.” His voice was hesitant, feeling something was off about it.

“Such conditions are in our favor. Right now, there are only weaker beasts in the outer area. When we kill such a strong one, they not only won’t attract stronger beats, we’ll also get more energy from it,” Nozawa said, looking at him.

There was a heavy pressure from the look, and the man in black felt a chill behind his back. He nodded his head hurriedly in agreement.

The group of people followed behind Nozawa, looking for the strong mythical beast that had escaped their grasp.

***

On the other side, Shi Qin and the others were still hanging around the outer edge of the forest, not dating to venture deeper towards the center.

After another life and death battle, Shi Qin, Yao Jiamu and the others were in a sorry state. Especially Yao Jiamu, who had blood splattered over his body. The only one who still looked refreshed and clean among them was Gu Xiqiao.

She was even holding a book in her hands, writing strange words in them. As she walked, she looked around. Betty was afraid that she would eventually walk into a tree, and she had followed behind Gu Xiqiao in the beginning. But after walking for more than an hour behind her, she realized that Gu Xiqiao seemed to have eyes on top of her head, avoiding trees in front of her one second before it even appeared in her way. What a practical skill to have!

“Something’s not right.” Shi Qin patted the dust on his body, a grave expression on his face. “It’s the third strong mythical beast that we’ve encountered. Logically, there shouldn’t be such powerful beasts on the outer part of the forest.”

Hans wasn’t very bothered and he pulled out a water bottle to drink from. After quenching his thirst, he wiped his mouth with his sleeves. “Who cares what kind of beasts they are, as long as we kill it, it’s fine!”

“We’ve so far encountered beasts that we can kill, but what happens when a Xiantian or Houtian level beast appears? Will we be able to kill it then?” Shi Qin said, looking at Hans.

Hans opened his mouth like a fish, struggling to find the words. “N-No way, that wouldn’t happen right? Won’t those only appear in the middle of the forest? Will they really appear here?”

“Did that mythical beast look like one that usually appears on the edge of the forest?” Shi Qin shot back.

Hans was silent at that, finally contemplating Shi Qin’s words seriously.

Shi Qin saw that he was taking him seriously, and he turned away, satisfied. He looked to see Wu Hongwen and the others waving sticks like swords.

Then he looked further to see Gu Xiqiao leaning against the trees, reading.

No matter how he looked at it, she was just leisurely reading!

She was relaxed to the point that he felt… like she was being a pain in the a*s.

Shi Qin had the urge to rub his temples. What kind of teammates were these?

“What are you looking at, Qiao Qiao?” Betty leaned over to see the book in her hands.

Turning a page, Gu Xiqiao replied lightly, “Moral cultivation.”

Moral cultivation? What the h*ll was that? Betty rubbed her eyes and looked at the book again. Unfortunately, it was all written in Chinese, and she couldn’t understand a single word on it since she wasn’t Chinese. The book Gu Xiqiao was reading was written in oracle bone script, even Wu Hongwen and the others couldn’t understand it, how would Betty be able to?

“Oh, moral cultivation, I see.” Betty left without another word.

“What’s she looking at?” Hans finally snapped out of his thoughts when Betty came back to his side, and he asked.

“Moral cultivation,” Betty replied with a straight face.

Moral cultivation? What kind of awesome martial arts technique was that? Hans was a little surprised.

“Er Qiao, let’s prepare the hotpot, I’m so hungry.” The three had finally finished analyzing a summary of their recent battle, and clamored around Gu Xiqiao.

Gu Xiqiao turned another page, not raising her head as she replied, “If you want to eat, then prepare it yourself. Everything for the hotpot is there.”

Wu Hongwen scratched his head, and whined, “Can we even eat the food we make?!” After eating the hotpot that she made, how could they bear to eat the hotpot that any one of them prepared?

“You can eat it somehow, I’m not stopping you.” Her slender fingers turned another page. “As you can see, I’m very busy right now. I don’t have time to do that.”

Busy? Busy reading a book?

Wu Hongwen wanted to cry, you’re not stopping us, but we’re stopping ourselves!

Yao Jiamu had already anticipated this result, and so he had set up the firewood in preparation to cook the hotpot.

“The hotpot is still here.” Betty looked excited as she watched Yao Jiamu set up the wooden frame. “I thought that it was smashed to pieces from the fight just now. Lucky!”

Hearing that, Yao Jiamu glanced at Betty silently, not saying a word before going to preparing the hotpot in silence.

Hans saw that Yao Jiamu was preparing dinner tonight, and he was surprised. “You know how to cook?”

Yao Jiamu: “…” Don’t eat then! D*mn it!

When he thought that, he turned to look at Gu Xiqiao again, who was still flipping the book in her hands.

[Ding! The system has successfully upgraded! Congratulations to the host for obtaining Upgrade Package*1!]

[Ding! Congratulations on obtaining Upgrade Symbol*1!]

[Ding! Congratulations on obtaining Virtual Arena Upgrade Symbol*1!]

[Ding! The system database has been fully unlocked!]

[Ding! Congratulations on completing random missions. The system has rewarded you 20 points!]

[Ding! Congratulations on completing daily missions. The system has rewarded you 36 points!]

[Ding! Congratulations on leveling up your Ancient Martial Arts skill to Xiantian Level! The system has rewarded you 10,000 points!]

[Ding! Congratulations on leveling up your Ancient Martial Arts skill to Houtian Level! The system has rewarded you 20,000 points!]

The cold rings sounded in her head suddenly, and Gu Xiqiao’s hand paused. ‘Jiji, you’re alive again?’

Jiji had just woken up, a dumbfounded look on its face. [Holy sh*t! What have you been doing, Beauty Qiao? You suddenly just obtained 30,000 points in one go! Did you advance your levels like drinking water?!]

‘We’ll talk about that later. Why were you suddenly forced to upgrade?’ Gu Xiqiao lowered her head, hiding the look in her eyes.

[That day, I felt that you were in danger and I just wanted to return to the Virtual Arena. Then I suddenly felt a very familiar chi around you,] Jiji spoke as though in a trance. [So very familiar, then I felt pain in my head, and I was out cold. When I woke up, I had been upgraded.]

Hearing those words, Gu Xiqiao frowned slightly. A very familiar chi? The only unexpected person that had appeared the other day was…’Dubhe. Jiji, you know Dubhe.’

[Dubhe?] A puzzled look appeared on Jiji’s face, it was all the more confused now. [Who is he? I’ve never heard of him.]

‘I think that Dubhe was your previous host, that’s why you felt it was so familiar.’ Gu Xiqiao’s fingers had stopped on a word in her book.

[My previous host? How could I have a previous host, Beauty Qiao? Ever since I was conscious, the first person I saw is you, how could I have a previous host?]

Gu Xiqiao was silent, pointing to a line of words in her book. ‘The ancient power, its space is self-reliant and intelligent.’

‘This virtual space should be referring to some inheritance virtual space, and you, you are the intelligence that was born from it.’ Gu Xiqiao closed the book and leaned back against the tree, narrowing her eyes as she thought deeper.

[But I’m a system!] Jiji said hurriedly. [You’re my only host, Beauty Qiao!]

‘It’s fine, it’s not like I said anything.’ Gu Xiqiao was dumbfounded at the realization she had reached. ‘Let’s talk about it later.’

[Oh.] Jiji sat in the Virtual Arena, crossing its legs as it played its games. [You should be in the selections right now, right, Beauty Qiao?]

‘Yeah,’ Gu Xiqiao replied, then she suddenly asked, ‘Jiji, can you show me a map of the surroundings?’

As soon as she said that, a transparent panel appeared in front of her. There was a foggy patch on the panel, and nothing could be seen.

“I thought so.” Gu Xiqiao said in a low voice.

[Oh right, did you help make me a tall and mighty body, Beauty Qiao?] Jiji suddenly looked excited as it remembered this. [I’m telling you now, I’m awesome after this upgrade!]

Gu Xiqiao merely replied with an ‘oh’, and said, ‘I brought your original body along.’

Jiji: […] How could you! I really want to hurt you now!

‘Do you want to come out?’ Gu Xiqiao asked.

Jiji buried its face in its knees, a look of sad betrayal on its face. [… Sorry, I want some quiet now.]

Gu Xiqiao gave it a cold ‘oh’.

“Er Qiao, come and eat.” Yao Jiamu had already cooked the hotpot meal, and although the taste was far inferior to Gu Xiqiao’s, there was nothing better to eat now, so the others didn’t really mind it.

Gu Xiqiao kept away her book under the tree casually and sat down, but she didn’t make a move to eat.

“What’s wrong?” Xiao Yun felt it was a little strange to see her like that, and she came over to her side.

Gu XIqiao smiled at her, twirling a few strands of hair. “You won’t be able to eat this meal.”

Before Xiao Yun could say anything, Shi Qin stood up with a long ‘bang’ and shouted, “There’s a beast in front!”

As soon as he said that, everyone placed down their chopsticks, following Shi Qin to rush towards the directions where the beasts appeared!

In just a second, Gu Xiqiao was the only one left under the tree. She sat there, a flash of white on her hands, and a cold robot appeared beside her.

“Jiji, your body’s here. Are you really not going to display your new abilities to me?” Gu Xiqiao chuckled, rubbing her chin.

Jiji struggled in the virtual space for a while, before finally gritting its teeth and coming out.

It knew all along anyway, with Gu Xiqia’s terrible taste, she would never make a tall and mighty body for it!

“This is so much better, it’s so cute!” Gu Xiqiao stood up and rounded Jiji’s body, clapping her hands. “Quick, show me your abilities!”

Jiji stretched out both its mechanical hands. “Let me charge up for a while.”

“… Charge up?” Gu Xiqiao looked at Jiji with a solemn expression. “Jiji, do you know if you’re like this on a battlefield, you can die very easily.”

What kind of enemies would let you have the time to charge up?

Jiji: “… Oh.” It wasn’t like it wanted to either.

Gu Xiqiao sat back down, waiting for Jiji to ‘charge up’, and stretched out her mental powers to observe the situation of her teammates.

There was something really wrong with this Bahuang Forest, and she didn’t feel completely at east letting the six of them out of her sight.

Suddenly, she frowned, turning to look ahead.

Shi Qin and the others were hurrying back to the spot.

Specifically, Shi Qin, Hans, and Betty were running back in a hurry, while Yao Jiamu, Xiao Yun, and Wu Hongwen were walking slowly behind, a regretful expression on their faces.

“Shi Qin, are we really giving away our mythical beasts to other people?” Wu Hongwen felt aggrieved, they had obviously seen it first!

As the six of them got closer, their voices were also heard clearer. Betty sighed. “Little Wuzi, that was Master Cecil! The strongest master from America in the current generation! We definitely can’t beat him! Didn’t I already tell you, when you meet any of the five, just run! Luckily, even though Master Cecil has a bad temper, he doesn’t bully others. We were lucky this time, if it was Nozawa instead, we wouldn’t have been able to run!”

Hearing Betty’s words, Gu Xiqiao gave a sigh. They couldn’t continue to go on like this.

Forget about the rest, now even their prey had been taken. If they encountered those five again, when would she be able to achieve the goal of training this group of people?

If you want to be scared, it should be other people who run in fear when they see them, right? Why were they the ones running away instead?

No wonder Wu Hongwen had such a sullen look on his face.

Gu Xiqiao rubbed her fingers together, then slowly stood, her eyes looking ahead.