The Body Cultivation True Disciple Tao Xiaoxian ran into today was a super meat-shield, specialized purely in defense.
As the second-ranked Inner Disciple of Heavenly Sword Peak, Tao Xiaoxian was always ready for cross-realm challenges.
She didn’t care about his Early Nascent Soul Stage cultivation; what frustrated her was the sheer stifling nature of her loss.
Her exquisite sword techniques were completely absorbed by her opponent’s shield. By the time her stamina and True Qi were nearly depleted, he directly rammed her out of the arena.
“Putting everything into defense aside, he had such a ridiculously hard turtle shell, too.”
Pouting, she said, “Senior Sister Pei, Senior Sister Ye! If you run into that big turtle, you have to avenge me!”
Pei Ruyi nodded slightly. Tao Xiaoxian’s match had been after hers, so she’d watched the entire thing.
After having her Sword Heart reshaped by Ye Luqing, she was confident she could cut through both that Body Cultivator and his shell together.
Ye Luqing also nodded. She had never fought a Body Cultivator before and began to mull over ways to deal with one.
At this stage, the probability of encountering one later was quite high.
If she truly faced a defense-specialized Body Cultivator, her first idea was to drag the fight into a battle of attrition.
As a Array Cultivator, what she excelled at most were support and defensive arrays.
First, she would set up several Spirit-Gathering Arrays, then build defensive formations to counter-defend. Neither side could breach the other’s defenses.
During this time, she would look for an opportunity to construct a powerful “Grand Array” with devastating force, then concentrate her power into a single strike to crush the opponent.
However, even a defense-oriented Body Cultivator would surely have offensive methods, so the exact plan would just have to wait until she actually faced one.
Tao Xiaoxian glanced around.
“Where’s Little Qian? How come she isn’t here?”
“Could it be she’s afraid of me? Senior Sister Ye, tell her for me that if she surrenders now, I’ll only count it as half a loss…”
Before she could finish, the sound of a door creaking open came from Ye Luqing’s master bedroom. Ying Qianqian stepped out, looking at Tao Xiaoxian with an indifferent expression.
“Who says I’m afraid of you?”
“Yesterday, Senior Sister Ye and I increased our win rate quite a lot. As for you, it’s still not too late to surrender now.”
“When we Dual Cultivate later, I’ll take it a little easier on you, so you don’t end up wailing like a ghost like you did three years ago.”
Hearing Ying Qianqian’s words, a rare flush of red spread across Tao Xiaoxian’s face.
Three years ago, right after they entered the sect, she had Cultivated once with Ying Qianqian, who was still at Heavenly Sword Peak then.
She still remembered Ying Qianqian’s nimble fingers, which had sent her body into a state of agonizing ecstasy she couldn’t escape, something she’d likely never forget.
Her bet with Ying Qianqian this time was precisely to seize the dominant position during their Dual Cultivation, to ruthlessly press Ying Qianqian beneath her, and thereby overcome her Heart Devil from that year.
Thinking of this, her fighting spirit surged once more.
“Big words! Let’s see who has the higher win rate today then!”
With a thought, Tao Xiaoxian instantly summoned her Lifebound Spirit Sword.
Although she’d lost her Singles Match today, she’d fought others to the point of exhaustion the entire time. Apart from the final blow that sent her flying, she hadn’t sustained any injuries, so it wouldn’t affect their practice.
The four of them trained from afternoon until night. The continuous battles left all four feeling somewhat exhausted.
However, the efforts of both teams were gradually paying off. The coordination between Ye Luqing and Ying Qianqian became increasingly seamless, and they had nearly fully mastered the Yin-Yang Meridian Array.
The Dual Sword Cultivator Team lineup of Pei Ruyi and Tao Xiaoxian also solved their problem of attack homogenization, and their combat endurance had improved significantly.
But Ye Luqing and Ying Qianqian’s progress was clearly greater. Their Duo team’s win rate was already approaching fifty percent, a huge improvement from the start.
Tomorrow, Ye Luqing and Pei Ruyi still had their Singles Matches to attend, so practice stopped there for the day.
Ying Qianqian and Tao Xiaoxian left the small courtyard one after another, leaving only Pei Ruyi.
Once the outsiders were gone, Pei Ruyi’s cool and aloof demeanor instantly vanished.
Her jade-like face flushed slightly, and her voice became soft and tender.
“Qing, I don’t want to go back to Heavenly Sword Peak tonight…”
Ye Luqing reached out her hand, and Pei Ruyi immediately leaned her pretty face into it.
Watching the tall beauty softly sighing, her expression one of docile obedience, Ye Luqing’s heart itched.
She was a little tempted to start a few rounds with Pei Ruyi, but thinking of tomorrow’s match, she decided against it for now.
“Not wanting to go back means you want to spend the night here.” Ye Luqing toyed with Pei Ruyi’s chin.
“Mm, I want to be with Qing…”
Pei Ruyi’s eyes were misty, her gaze seductive like silk. Her ice-blue irises seemed to have transformed into a pool of spring water.
She nuzzled lightly along Ye Luqing’s arm following her hand, then slowly moved upward, tilting her head to look at Ye Luqing, as if observing her expression.
Ye Luqing rubbed the top of Pei Ruyi’s pale cyan hair, a bit helplessly.
“There’s still a match tomorrow.”
“Qing, just hold me for a bit…”
Pei Ruyi looked at Ye Luqing cautiously. As soon as Ye Luqing gave permission, she would press close to her in an instant.
Seeing this display of a little girlfriend acting spoiled, Ye Luqing’s heart softened somewhat.
“I plan to break through to Half-Step Nascent Soul soon. Holding is fine, but we can’t do anything else.”
Hearing this, Pei Ruyi’s eyes instantly lit up, and she nodded vigorously!
“Mm, I’ll protect you properly.”
Ye Luqing closed her eyes and sat in meditation, quickly entering the proper state.
She began merging the Water-Wood Infant into her Spirit Palace. It was like using an exquisite bottle to draw water from a lake, but each time, a lot of water would leak out, as if the bottle and water repelled each other.
Since the Water-Wood Infant had absorbed the memories shaped by Xiao Qingxuan, its compatibility with her was very high. It would take about a quarter of an hour to fully integrate with her Spiritual Power.
And during that waiting time, Pei Ruyi, outside, was restless.
After watching Ye Luqing enter deep meditation, she gently gathered her into her arms.
Smelling the Verdant Wood Flower fragrance on Ye Luqing, she felt a sudden urge to simply lean down and kiss her.
“Qing said we can’t do other things, but a kiss shouldn’t count, right?”
“She didn’t say no kissing, so that probably means it’s okay…”
But just as Pei Ruyi was wrestling with this dilemma, a faint sound suddenly came from outside, along with a hidden and blurry aura.
“Who’s there!”
It was already late at night; it definitely couldn’t be Tao Xiaoxian and Ying Qianqian returning.
Adding to that the way the other party was hiding their aura, it couldn’t be anyone good.
She condensed several streaks of Sword Qi, swirling them protectively around Xiao Qingxuan’s body, then dashed out of the courtyard. She slashed with her sword toward the source of the noise.
The other party clearly hadn’t anticipated Pei Ruyi’s sudden assault but reacted extremely fast.
Clang!
Metal clashed against metal, instantly producing a thunderous boom.
The scattered Sword Qi lifted the newcomer’s face veil, and Pei Ruyi immediately saw the person’s face clearly.
“Senior Sister Xiao?”
She lowered her sword, but her eyes were still locked onto the person before her.
Ye Luqing’s safety was the highest priority, but she also had to consider the possibility that this person was someone disguised as Xiao Qingxuan.
Having blocked this sword strike, Xiao Qingxuan frowned slightly and asked, looking at Pei Ruyi:
“Junior Sister Pei, at this hour, what are you doing here?”
Hearing this, Pei Ruyi’s expression remained calm. Without blushing or missing a beat, she answered:
“Junior Sister Ye and I just finished practicing for the Duo Tournament.”
“Junior Sister Ye is currently fusing with a Nascent Soul. She asked me to protect her.”
Upon hearing this, Xiao Qingxuan’s gaze on Pei Ruyi turned somewhat strange.
In speech and action… why did it feel like Pei Ruyi seemed even more concerned about A-Qing than she was?
When had their relationship gotten so good?
