CHAPTER 138: CHAPTER 6: FAME

Zhao Family, Huazhou City.

"Young Master, Young Master." A young attendant called out all the way from outside the courtyard to inside the courtyard.

Inside the house, the man who was practicing calligraphy leisurely finished the last stroke, picked up the paper, gave it a blow, and after the ink dried, admired it for a moment, then nodded in satisfaction, placed the paper back on the table, and then looked at the attendant who had quieted down after coming in.

"Du Yuan, why are you in such a rush?" The young man Zhao Cheng looked up at his attendant and asked gently.

"Young Master, I just received news that someone has reached the 180th level in the Trial Tower and is still going on!" Du Yuan excitedly relayed the news he had received to Zhao Cheng.

"Oh?" A trace of surprise flashed in Zhao Cheng’s eyes, "Who is it?"

He was well aware of the difficulty of the Trial Tower and knew what it meant to reach the 180th level, so he was somewhat curious.

"I heard this person is named Gu Qingqing. I have never seen this name appear in the Trial Tower before, so it should be their first challenge." Du Yuan had done his homework and directly mentioned the name Gu Qingqing.

"Gu Qingqing?" Zhao Cheng murmured softly, "Is she still in the tower now?"

"Yes, when I came back, she was still there." Du Yuan nodded quickly.

"Let’s go, we should take a look." Zhao Cheng stood up, flicked his sleeve, and took the lead in walking outside.

Du Yuan quickly followed Zhao Cheng, heading towards the Trial Tower together.

...

At the same time, in the Zhou Family.

The eldest son of the Zhou Family, Zhou Ting’s brother Zhou Qi was practicing swordplay. Upon seeing his attendant walking in quickly, he completed the last flourish, sheathed his sword, took the towel handed over by a servant beside him, wiped his sweat, and looked at the attendant.

"Chen Lian, what happened?" He gave the attendant a glance and asked calmly.

"Reporting to the young master, I have just heard that someone is challenging the Trial Tower and has reached the 180th level." Chen Lian bowed his head and reported respectfully.

"Oh?" Zhou Qi raised an eyebrow, "Is it Zhao Cheng or Yun Jing?"

"Reporting to the young master, it’s neither of them. I heard this person is named Gu Qingqing, who seems not to be from Huazhou City and it’s their first time entering the Trial Tower." Chen Lian shook his head and looked cautiously at Zhou Qi.

"Gu Qingqing?" Zhou Qi raised the tone at the end of his voice, "It’s a name I’ve never heard before; seems like they’ve got some skill. Is she still in the Trial Tower?"

Zhou Qi tossed the towel to the servant beside him, took the teacup handed over by a maid, and took a sip of tea.

"Yes, she is currently still in the Trial Tower and is said to continue challenging!" Chen Lian withdrew his gaze from Zhou Qi and spoke respectfully.

"Interesting," Zhou Qi put down the teacup, thought for a moment, and stood up, "Let’s go, we should see what’s happening."

With that, Zhou Qi walked out first, followed closely by Chen Lian.

...

Inside the Trial Tower, Gu Qingqing was unaware of the happenings outside and didn’t know she had become famous in Huazhou City. At this moment, she was facing an eighth-level Heaven-Swallowing Python.

Among the eighth-level demon beasts, the Heaven-Swallowing Python was considered a high-grade one. Gu Qingqing, having just advanced to the eighth level, was still slightly lacking in cultivation compared to the python, and given its giant size, Gu Qingqing seemed rather insignificant in comparison.

The Mixed Immortal Silk hovered by her side as she stood on a large rock, looking at the Heaven-Swallowing Python not far away. Her eyes squinted, her expression unusually cold—a look she had never shown before. If Rong Ye and the others were present, they would notice how similar her expression was to Si Lin’s.

Ten meters away from her, the Heaven-Swallowing Python raised the upper part of its body, confronting her.

In their brief clash, though Gu Qingqing suffered a minor setback, the python also didn’t fare much better as she managed to dislodge a scale from its body.

Its earth-yellow eyes stared straight at Gu Qingqing, its tongue flicking in and out, pondering how to make the tiny human in front of it pay for her actions.

Gu Qingqing was likewise contemplating how to wound the python. She had just tried, but the python’s scales were extremely tough and difficult to remove; its defense was amazingly strong.

After a moment of confrontation, the python grew impatient first. Its tongue flicked, as it opened its mouth wide, lunging at Gu Qingqing, intending to swallow her in one bite.

Gu Qingqing naturally couldn’t let the python succeed. With a subtle push off her toes, her body soared into the air, evading the python.

The python’s head collided with the rock beneath Gu Qingqing’s feet, smashing it into pieces, it roared angrily, turned around, and opened its mouth wide again, aiming to bite Gu Qingqing.

Gu Qingqing once again shifted positions, appearing atop the python. In her hand, the Mixed Immortal Silk became rigid, like a whip, striking the python.

"Snap!"

The Mixed Immortal Silk made a loud noise upon hitting the python’s scales, but it only left a white mark on the scales without breaking them.

"Roar!"

The python became enraged by the beating, its tail swung violently toward Gu Qingqing. She swiftly departed from the python’s body, landing on a large tree.

As soon as she steadied herself, the python’s tail followed closely, smashing the tree into debris. She shifted positions once more, ending up on the python’s head, which shook desperately, trying to throw her off.

Gu Qingqing was not about to give up so easily. She retrieved a dagger given by Si Lin from her Storage Bracelet, and with a swift hand movement, she threw it directly into the python’s left eye.

"Roar!"

The python let out a painful roar, its body suddenly twisted, its tail swung toward Gu Qingqing. Unable to dodge in time, she was struck by the tail, flown backward, crashing into seven or eight large trees before stopping, spitting out a mouthful of blood as she landed on the ground.

Darkness flickered in her eyes, she took out an elixir and swallowed it, standing up to face the python.

The python, having its eye pierced, went completely berserk, the area around it turned into chaos with fallen trees everywhere. Despite its relatively high intelligence, it quickly turned its gaze back to Gu Qingqing, with vengeance in its one good eye, charged straight at her.

Having suffered considerable injury and expending much of her Spiritual Power in the previous battles, Gu Qingqing found herself at a disadvantage against the python. She quickly dodged to avoid being struck.

As soon as its head missed, the python’s tail followed in, attacking Gu Qingqing. She continued to dodge, swiftly running across the python’s body, adjusting her position in response to its movements.

When the surroundings turned into utter disarray, Gu Qingqing finally found the python’s weakness.

Standing atop it, she wielded a long sword in her hand.

"Break!"

As the mysterious and ethereal voice resounded, the scales at the spot where Gu Qingqing stood on the Heaven-Swallowing Python suddenly broke apart. Seizing the opportunity, Gu Qingqing thrust her long sword into it with force, then quickly retreated to thirty meters away.

Having been attacked at its weak point, the Heaven-Swallowing Python’s body twisted violently. However, the more it writhed, the faster the blood flowed from its wound. In no time, its movements diminished greatly, and after half a quarter of an hour, it lay motionless on the ground.

Gu Qingqing didn’t approach recklessly but instead took out a stack of talismans, infused them with Spiritual Power, and threw them at the Heaven-Swallowing Python.

Those talismans were all top-grade, each with a different effect. Once they reached the Heaven-Swallowing Python, various conditions appeared on its body.

There was freezing, burning, wind blades, thunderstorms... all sorts of effects.

The Heaven-Swallowing Python’s corpse was left in a mess, and even if it wasn’t dead, it would have been tormented to death by now.

Before being transported to the next level, Gu Qingqing crushed the Jade Token in her hand, which was given by the guards at the entrance before she came in. Whenever one wants to leave the Trial Tower, breaking the Jade Token is enough.

...

"Look quickly, she reached the one hundred and ninety-sixth level; she’s already number one in Huazhou City, isn’t that amazing?"

"Yes, if she tries a little harder, she can achieve the same score as Young Master Si and the others who are number one!"

"Young Master Si is a genius in our Sub-immortal Realm, not someone easily surpassed. Her current achievement is already quite impressive!"

"Exactly, at least she has already surpassed many of the young talents in the Prefecture!"

"..."

Outside the Trial Tower, the onlookers couldn’t help but marvel at Gu Qingqing’s achievement.

Outside the crowd, Zhao Cheng, Zhou Qi, and Yun Jing were somewhat surprised.

"I didn’t expect such an impressive figure to emerge from our Huazhou City," Zhou Qi said with a playful smile while glancing at Gu Qingqing’s achievement beyond the crowd. He looked at Zhao Cheng and Yun Jing, speaking in a casual tone.

"The one hundred and ninety-sixth level is beyond the reach of even the three of us; it’s indeed powerful. If there’s a chance, we should get to know her," Yun Jing smiled faintly, seemingly not catching the insinuations in Zhou Qi’s words, and spoke.

"Indeed, she’s truly impressive now. If we could know her, we could spar more," Zhao Cheng’s eyes glinted with a trace of combat intent, full of interest in Gu Qingqing.

While the three were chatting, the people beside them suddenly exclaimed.

"Wow, look, her name stopped at the one hundred and ninety-sixth level; she must have come out."

"Where, where?"

"Isn’t the exit supposed to be on the other side? Let’s go check it out."

Then, the crowd hurriedly ran towards the exit.

Zhou Qi and the other two exchanged a glance and also headed towards the exit.

When Gu Qingqing came out, she was startled by the crowd’s excited gaze at her, and she instinctively stepped back.

Just as she was curious, someone suddenly pulled her along.

"Quick, run!"

Yun Ran’s voice came, and without thinking, Gu Qingqing followed Yun Ran and started running.

The people guarding the exit hadn’t clearly seen the person who came out before seeing her being pulled away like the wind, and when they tried to find her, they found she was already gone.

"Did anyone see what she looked like?"

"Didn’t see clearly!"

"Only saw that she was a woman!"

"She was wearing a veil, couldn’t see her face clearly!"

"..."

So, everyone could only leave in frustration.

Yun Jing and the other two remained in place, not leaving with the crowd.

"If I didn’t see it wrong, the person who just appeared is Yun Ran from your Yun Family who ascended from the Lower Realm, right?" Zhou Qi crossed his arms, leisurely watching Yun Jing, "Brother Yun, won’t you explain?"

"That was indeed Yun Ran just now, but Yun Ran isn’t my servant. How would I know who she’s acquainted with?" Outwardly, Yun Jing was quite protective, always caring for Yun Ran, and naturally wouldn’t let Zhou Qi make things difficult for Yun Ran.

"Yun Ran being able to take that person away indicates they probably have a good relationship. Brother Yun, you could go back and ask Yun Ran. If she’s truly a friend of Yun Ran, she could introduce us to me and Brother Zhou." Zhao Cheng, abandoning his earlier nonchalance, looked intently at Yun Jing, fully expressing his interest in Gu Qingqing.

"This matter should still be Yun Ran’s decision. Brother Zhao and Brother Zhou, don’t make things difficult for me." Yun Jing’s smile didn’t change, unaffected by their pressure, "I just remembered I have something to do, I’ll take my leave. You two, chat slowly."

He cupped his hands at the two, turned around, and left before they could react.

Zhao Cheng and Zhou Qi, having nothing more to discuss, exchanged a look, hmph coldly, and turned to leave.

Gu Qingqing and Yun Ran ran a long distance, confirming no one was chasing before Yun Ran finally stopped, clutching her chest and panting.

"Sister Yun, did something happen?" Gu Qingqing was fine; she still hadn’t understood what was happening, only following Yun Ran out of trust and running with her.

"Geng Geng, you’ve become famous in Huazhou City." Yun Ran was a bit excited when mentioning this.

"Huh? When did that happen? How did I become famous in Huazhou City?" Gu Qingqing was completely confused, not understanding what she did to become famous just like that.

"Didn’t I tell you before that the Trial Tower’s ranking is visible to everyone? Today, your first time challenging the Trial Tower, you directly reached the one hundred and ninety-sixth level, not far from your senior brothers’ two hundred, which is already the best achievement in Huazhou City, even surpassing the three most powerful youths in Huazhou City. Of course, you’re famous now!" Yun Ran quickly explained, seeing Gu Qingqing’s bewildered expression.

"So it was because of that? I reached the one hundred and ninety-sixth level? Still a bit away from the senior brothers, they truly are incredible!" Gu Qingqing was somewhat dissatisfied with her achievement, believing that if Si Lin and the others could reach two hundred levels at the eighth stage, she should be able to as well.

Hearing this, Yun Ran rolled her eyes, "Goodness, here I am, only having reached one hundred and eighty-two levels, consider our feelings!"

Being friends with someone like Gu Qingqing truly tests one’s state of mind, Yun Ran felt. You work hard on cultivation, finally reaching the eighth stage with great difficulty, only for others to quickly cultivate it too. You with great effort reach over one eighty levels, thinking yourself formidable, only for others to hit one hundred and ninety-six levels without contentment. If it were someone else, they’d probably have long wanted to break ties with Gu Qingqing.

Gu Qingqing stuck out her tongue, "Okay, so what should I do now? Is there someone chasing me?"