Afternoon
Having just mastered the Dual Formation: Yin-Yang Meridian Array, Ye Luqing lay on her bed, bored out of her mind, flipping through a risqué book with words like “Development,” “Training,” and “Corruption” scrawled on the cover.
She critically examined the indecent content, her face growing redder by the minute.
“So, there’s actually so much to training like this…”
She wiped the drool from the corner of her mouth, and her legs instinctively began to tighten beneath the blanket.
“No, no, Ye Luqing, how can you be indulging in such Outside-Path Heresy?”
“The top priority is to increase my strength!”
Even if she wanted to indulge in some naughty fun, it had to wait until she dealt with the trouble that was Xiao Qingxuan.
The next moment, she threw the book onto the bed and shouted into the empty room:
“Check power comparison!”
If the gap between her and Xiao Qingxuan was too large, she wouldn’t consider using extreme measures to blacken her for now.
In an instant, a blue pop-up frame flashed before Ye Luqing’s eyes, filled with complex data streaming within, as if undergoing rigorous and precise calculations.
After a moment, only two numbers remained inside the blue frame.
One and nine.
“One and nine?”
Ye Luqing muttered.
“Does that mean the odds are one to nine between me and Xiao Qingxuan? I didn’t expect I’d have a ten percent chance of winning. Seems like my recent efforts weren’t in vain.”
Ye Luqing nodded in satisfaction.
The three formations she had just learned, combined with the boosts from the Blackening Reward System, actually gave her some fighting power against Xiao Qingxuan.
However, the system immediately doused her enthusiasm with cold water.
[Incorrect. One and nine means Xiao Qingxuan can kill you nine times in one second.]
“…”
“Sigh…”
Ye Luqing sighed and picked up the indecent book on the bed again.
Since she wasn’t good at fighting, she might as well use her brains.
After all, her past life as the Nickname: Game Master of the Corners wasn’t wasted.
Just as Ye Luqing felt depressed, the system’s voice sounded again in her mind.
[Ding, detected that a Plot Character’s Corruption Value is full. Would you like to add the Corruption Value into the system?]
Ye Luqing was slightly taken aback; she had never heard of this before.
“Corruption Value?”
After Blackening Value and Demonization Value, now there was Corruption Value too?
“Don’t try to trick me. First, explain what this is, then I’ll decide whether to activate it.”
Having learned the hard way with the unremovable title last time, Ye Luqing had become much more cautious.
[Corruption Value is a companion attribute of Blackening Value. Since your current route leans towards enticing corruption, this data can be added to the system, granting rewards when causing corruption.]
[Each time Corruption Value reaches a new phase, the system rewards you with a unique talent from the corrupted character, which applies to yourself.]
Hearing this, Ye Luqing’s eyes lit up instantly.
Copying someone else’s talent onto herself—that was definitely useful.
Her current expertise in formations was thanks to her own extraordinary talent in array cultivation.
If she could copy talents from others, then competing against the Heavenly Fate Woman Xiao Qingxuan in the future wouldn’t be impossible.
“Corruption Value System, activate!”
The next moment, a gentle breeze swept by, and Ye Luqing felt several new pieces of data suddenly enter her mind.
[Name: Xiao Qingxuan]
[Cultivation: Half-step Nascent Spirit]
[Blackening Value: 99%]
[Demonization Value: 26%]
[Corruption Value: 59% (Phase One)]
“59%, huh…”
As information about the Corruption Value flooded her mind, Ye Luqing gained a better understanding of this number.
Similar to Blackening Value’s 400%, Corruption Value was divided into four phases, each phase capped at 100%.
Every time the Corruption Value broke through a phase, she could copy one talent from the other person, and the higher the phase, the better the talent she could acquire.
Thinking of this, Ye Luqing quickly checked the character whose Corruption Value was full.
[Name: Ruyi Pei]
[Cultivation: Early Nascent Soul]
[Blackening Value: None]
[Demonization Value: None]
[Corruption Value: 100% (Phase One)]
Unlike Xiao Qingxuan’s numbers, there was a small “+” sign next to Ruyi Pei’s Corruption Value.
No wonder she had sensed something about Ruyi Pei nearing its limit, and continuing to toy with her would cause damage. It was this maxed-out Corruption Value.
Ye Luqing focused her consciousness on that plus sign, and the interface suddenly changed the next moment.
[Corruption Value: 1% (Phase Two)]
[You can now randomly acquire one talent from Ruyi Pei. Would you like to obtain it?]
“Acquire, acquire.”
Ye Luqing watched the flickering blue system box eagerly, silently praying for a good talent.
Although Ruyi Pei’s proficiency in Sword Dao couldn’t compare with the Heavenly Fate Woman Xiao Qingxuan, she was still easily in the top five disciples of Heavenly Sword Peak.
If she could obtain a Sword Dao talent, her chances of winning the Sect-wide Tournament in a few days would increase significantly.
After a moment, the rolling screen for talent selection stopped.
[Congratulations, host, you have obtained the talent “World-Felling Kneel.”]
[World-Felling Kneel: When defeated and begging for mercy or requesting help, this talent greatly increases the chance that the opponent will agree.]
Ye Luqing was momentarily stunned. Before she could fully react, a new scene suddenly appeared in her mind.
On a night of a full moon, at the edge of a cliff, Ruyi Pei looked at the cold figure of the green-robed immortal maiden standing by the cliff with an excited expression.
“Senior Sister Xiao, I like you!”
“I… I will do anything for Senior Sister Xiao.”
“Please look at me properly!”
Hearing this, the cold immortal maiden glanced back with only her peripheral vision, then turned away again.
“…Junior Sister Pei, it’s better if you don’t contact me anymore.”
“I’m afraid Ah Qing will misunderstand.”
After saying that, Xiao Qingxuan swept her sleeves and left, ignoring the stunned Ruyi Pei standing there with her mouth agape.
“Senior Sister Xiao!”
Snapping out of her daze, Ruyi Pei chased after her, desperately grabbing onto Xiao Qingxuan’s sleeve.
“If Senior Sister Xiao isn’t with me, I…”
“Let go.”
Xiao Qingxuan frowned slightly. She really liked that sword robe and didn’t want it torn here.
The next moment, Ruyi Pei knelt directly on the ground, tearful, looking up at Xiao Qingxuan.
“What do I have to do for Senior Sister Xiao to stay by my side?”
“As long as Senior Sister Xiao is with me, I will do anything!”
Seeing Ruyi Pei’s emotional collapse, a trace of pity flashed in Xiao Qingxuan’s eyes, but it quickly disappeared.
“Hmph…”
“How could an Outer Sect disciple possibly bear the lifetime trust of the Sect Leader?”
“Junior Sister Pei, you really only think about yourself.”
With that, a flash of azure sword energy cut off the sleeve Ruyi Pei was holding.
Xiao Qingxuan vanished in a sword light, leaving only Ruyi Pei crying loudly on the spot.
The scene ended there, leaving Ye Luqing deeply shocked.
What kind of sect is this? This is supposed to be Xuanxiao Upper Sect? Might as well rename it the Panty-Sucking Sect.
After watching that memory, Ye Luqing somewhat understood why Ruyi Pei was so hostile towards her at the time.
But was this really the kind of personality the girl had?
Beneath the cold and strong exterior was such a soft, fragile heart.
This explained why Ruyi Pei’s corruption progressed so rapidly.
“I have to consider that Xiao Qingxuan has a higher resistance to training. But since there’s a deep emotional foundation between us, the effects might roughly cancel each other out.”
The strategy for Ruyi Pei could only be used as a reference—it would need to be flexibly adapted when applied to Xiao Qingxuan.
But these two were already very similar in many ways. It would be hard to find anyone else so closely resembling Xiao Qingxuan.
As for Ruyi Pei herself…
“Hehe…”
Ye Luqing grinned wickedly, feeling the soul of a trainer blazing fiercely inside her.
Such a personality with a stark contrast between outer coldness and inner warmth was extremely valuable for development and training.