Chapter 192 – Taking the Initiative

Translator: Coca5156

𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

Editor: Drea

The news of the top-ranked Weapon Forger of the First School, Zhang Kuihan having successfully made an Earth-Level Spiritual Weapon by working together with the Black Thorn had spread all over the campus in under an hour. Beyond that, the news had spread just as quickly across the whole of the Yan Capital.

An Earth-Level Spiritual Weapon! Even though it was only successful because of collaboration, it also meant that Zhang Kuihan had the potential to craft an Earth-Level Weapon of his own accord. This meant that it was well beyond his abilities to advance to an Earth-Level Weapon Forger in a short amount of time as long as he continued to strive hard.

Zhang Kuihan was very young, he was only the age of a Martial Practitioner. He had a few hundred years to continue progressing, which meant that advancing to a Heaven-Level Weapon Forger was a huge possibility. The Yan Capital stirred with restlessness, with many people wanting to recruit Zhang Kuihan for themselves due to his huge potential. On the other hand, the Black Thorn who had also participated in this collaboration did not receive as much attention.

Well, the Black Thorn was a Weapon Forger from the Xia Kingdom to begin with. Even if she was capable, there was no way that she could be better than a Weapon Forger raised in the North Qiu Kingdom. Even if the crafting was successful, most of the credit was given to Zhang Kuihan. Based on the exquisite appearance of the sword alone, many people had attributed most of the success to Zhang Kuihan due to Gu Lingzhi’s reputation for her ugly and strange-looking weapons.

However, Gu Lingzhi could not care less about the gossip. She wasted no time in improving her Weapon Crafting skills.

There was only two days left to the competition and she desperately wanted to craft Earth-Level Spiritual Weapons that could be wielded by Martial Practitioners to improve the Xia Kingdom’s standing in the world.

For everybody else, it was a fantasy to be able to craft Earth-Level Spiritual Weapons that could be wielded by Martial Practitioners. For Gu Lingzhi, however, who had the knowledge passed down from the Spirit Tribe, it was merely a matter of time and practice before she could achieve that.

The moment Gu Lingzhi returned back home, she entered her Inheritance Space and started to craft weapons. By the time she left, there was only one day left to the competition.

Rong Yuan could finally put an end to all the social niceties that he had to attend and stop to gather his team and ready them for the competition.

The competition regulations changed every year. This year, it adopted a system of disqualification.

Students from different regions would draw lots to decide their opponents and they would fight with each other head-to-head. Whoever won would directly advance to the next round.

Naturally, this system encouraged roughness, and cheating behavior was not uncommon. It was possible for everyone from a school to directly advance to the next roundl if they were lucky. If they were unlucky, they could be disqualified from the competition early on in the preliminary rounds.

After understanding the competition rules and regulations thoroughly, Rong Yuan led his team of nine students towards the big wooden box to draw their lots.

When it was Gu Lingzhi’s turn, chills suddenly went down her spine. She turned her head abruptly, but was only met with Rong Yuan’s adoring gaze on her.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” Gu Lingzhi said as she shook her head, thinking that it was probably just her imagination. She did not recognize many people from the North Qiu Kingdom, why would anyone harbor malicious intent towards her?

The number that Gu Lingzhi had drawn was 68, which she considered pretty lucky.

“Your number is rather small, so your match will be carried out earlier. It should be over by this afternoon,” Rong Yuan said. He had confidence in her abilities and was not at all worried that she might lose. After looking at the number that Gu Lingzhi had drawn, he could not help but think back to the past few days where they had spent many moments together eating and drinking at different restaurants.

It had been such a long time since he spent quality time with her, he was starting to get really lonely.

On the other hand, Tianfeng Jin and Xin Yi’s numbers were rather big, meaning that their matches were later. Finally, nobody would be available to disrupt their alone time anymore. This thought alone made Rong Yuan celebrate internally with joy.

Every round of matches would only end when the last student in that round had finished competing. According to Tianfeng Jin and Xin Yi’s numbers, it would be late into the night when they finished competing.

The results of the competition were exactly what Rong Yuan had expected. Gu Lingzhi’s opponent was no match for her at all – Gu Lingzhi had beaten her in less than ten moves.

Some of the members in the audience who recognized Gu Lingzhi immediately pointed her out. Those who had participated in the competition were obligated to find out some background information on their opponents. Gu Lingzhi, who had awakened her Spiritual Roots just two years ago and managed to increase her cultivation at an ungodly pace put her at the focus of everyone’s attention.

Everyone had thought that while her talent was limitless, she had a lack of experience in real combat. Ever since Gu Lingzhi took on the identity of the Black Thorn, she had rarely used her real identity to compete in battles. However, the match today had changed their minds. Gu Lingzhi’s opponent was not particularly outstanding, but every student who could participate in this competition were the best amongst their peers. Yet, against Gu Lingzhi, her opponent never had a chance.

“Looks like the Xia Kingdom’s intelligence is right, Gu Lingzhi had sneaked into the Training Tower. Who knows, perhaps there may be a dark horse emerging by the end of this year,” an old man who was watching the competition commented.

“Principal Fu, do you want me to send someone...” the person beside stopped his sentence midway but the malicious intent in his voice was clear. The old man understood what he was trying to say immediately.

“Not yet,” the old man muttered, waving his hands, “Let’s see how it goes for now. After all, she is still a guest here. If anything happens to the fiancée of the Third Prince of the Xia Kingdom, it would be hard for us to explain ourselves.”

The man beside him immediately stopped talking and continued to spectate. A new match was beginning.

Gu Lingzhi, who had stepped down from the arena, did not know that this match had attracted the attention of many people. From her point of view, she had already tried her best to tone down her ferocity. She continued to spectate the matches after Tianfeng Jin congratulated her, which she gladly accepted.

Rong Yuan’s face darkened when he realized that Gu Lingzhi had not sensed the eagerness in his heart to spend some alone time with her. She had intended to stay at the competition arena until Tianfeng Jin had finished her match. Rong Yuan went to stand beside Gu Lingzhi without a word. Using Yuan Zheng as cover, he snaked his hand over her waist and pinched her lightly, causing Gu Lingzhi to almost let out a cry.

“...What are you doing?”

“What am I doing?” Rong Yuan hummed, “I am showing my dissatisfaction.”

He propped his chin on her shoulder gently and breathed in her ear, “You’ve given me the cold shoulder for so many days. I don’t want to be alone anymore.”

Rong Yuan had intentionally dragged out his words, causing Gu Lingzhi to blush.

She had spent almost all her time in the Inheritance Space crafting weapons, it was almost as if she was busier than Rong Yuan who had to attend social events daily. When Rong Yuan returned back home, he had always wanted to spend time with her but to no avail. He even had to spend an hour alone at her place to give the impression to the spies that they were a loving couple that was spending a lot of time together.

The word ‘lonely’ would normally sound very tender, but when it came from Rong Yuan, it seemed to have another meaning.

Afraid that other people could hear their conversation, Gu Lingzhi looked around at the people around her. Tianfeng Jin had suddenly taken out her sword, ready to fight. Realising Gu Lingzhi’s eyes on her, Tianfeng Jin nodded and said, “I can handle myself here. You should go back with His Highness.”

Tianfeng Jin felt pressured by Rong Yuan’s presence as he was such a high-level Martial Artist, which made it difficult for her to concentrate on the competition.

“But...” Gu Lingzhi hesitated. This was not their homeland after all, she did not feel good leaving Tianfeng Jin alone.

“Just go, Lingzhi, I’ll be here to accompany her,” Wei Hanzi, who had gotten the hint, chimed in.

“I’ll leave it to you then,” Rong Yuan said even before Gu Lingzhi had time to make a decision, taking her hand and dragging her out of the competition arena. His grip on her arm left no room for protest, signaling clearly to her that she would spend the rest of her time today with him.

Rong Yuan’s childish behavior was almost like an old man who was asking for candy.

Gu Lingzhi snorted at the thought, and patted the hand that was gripping onto her arm. She laughed and said, “Stop holding on so tightly, I’m not going to run away.”

On tipped toes, she softly whispered at his ear, “The rest of my time is yours today.”

Hearing Gu Lingzhi’s words, he softened his cold façade and held her by the waist and murmured, “The rest of your time? Does that include tonight?”

Gu Lingzhi’s face immediately turned red and she rolled his eyes at him, “You are so dirty!”

“You’re slandering me,” Rong Yuan blinked, and put on a wronged expression, “I only wanted to have a meal at Fuyue Restaurant together, how is that dirty? Lingzhi... are you hinting something?”

Rong Yuan suddenly lowered his voice and he stared at Gu Lingzhi.

Gu Lingzhi silently turned her head away. When it came to being shameless, she could never win him.

“Didn’t you want to spend time with me? Are we going to just stand here all night?”

“Of course not,” Rong Yuan recovered himself and told Gu Lingzhi about the plans that he had.

“I’ve heard that the Yan Capital has an extremely large trading market. Let’s go there and try our luck. Maybe we might be able to get something that we like,” Rong Yuan continued, knowing that Gu Lingzhi was crazy about increasing her cultivation, so he picked a place that they could spend fruitful and meaningful time together.

Gu Lingzhi’s eyes shone when she heard that they were going to a trading market, “I’ve heard that the Yan Capital’s trading market is better than the East City’s one and I’ve been thinking of going there for some time now. Thank you.”

Rong Yuan was never big on places like trading markets. Everything that he needed was provided for him. He would only go to such places for Gu Lingzhi. Touched, Gu Lingzhi took the initiative to hold his hand for the first time. This startled Rong Yuan, but all she said was, “Let’s go.”