Having witnessed the abilities of their new teammate, A Miao, Jiang Ke’er and the other monsters had no choice but to set aside their views and accept this setup.
Fortunately, the other new teammate’s ability wasn’t so outrageous.
[Lin Gang]
[Demon Tribe – Artiodactyla True Beast Subclass – Niurou]
The man looked far more normal than A Miao, just a robust fellow with two curved horns on his head.
With a pair of glasses on his face, at first glance he seemed rather gentle and shy.
Jiang Ke’er noticed his arm was covered in densely written words, so she secretly stared at that arm for a while.
[Xinchou month, hour of the Rat: Li Family Mule glared at me (already avenged, put croton in its food).]
[Xinchou month, hour of the Pig: The neighbors suddenly played loud music, scared my ice cream right out of my hand (already avenged, broke their leg).]
[…, hour of the Ox: Bought pills at the Zhi Xue Sect Flagship Store in Lingdong City, the clerk shortchanged me 1 Spiritual Dust (revenge pending, currently have three plans).]
After secretly glancing for quite a while, Jiang Ke’er discovered that the arm of Lin Gang, the Niurou man, was densely packed with grudges.
Moreover, when Lin Gang noticed Jie Shui staring curiously at his arm, he immediately frowned, pulled out a pen, and wrote: […just played soccer with A Miao, a Wolf Tribe member with a scar on his eye gave me a really offensive look (revenge pending, preparing to execute the Broken Leg Plan).]
“???”
Jie Shui felt as if his whole wolf body was about to collapse.
“These two are your new teammates. Since this is your first meeting, take the chance to talk and get to know each other better,” Si Lian said with a smile.
“In at most two days, your suspension will be lifted, and you’ll face your first real battle. I hope you can work well together in these two days.”
Si Lian rented a courtyard as a temporary lodging for the squad.
However, as soon as Jiang Ke’er entered the courtyard, she found the quietest room in a corner, slipped inside, and never came out again.
Clearly, she had no desire to bond with her teammates.
A Miao and Lin Gang were both a bit shy too, but thanks to the outgoing presence of Jie Shui, the four teammates quickly warmed up to each other.
“Qing Yi, aren’t you coming out to chat?”
“No.”
Every second spent chatting was twenty seconds less for cultivation.
Driven by a sense of urgency, Jiang Ke’er had no intention of wasting time on meaningless small talk.
Her primary goal for entering the competition was to find the Sixth Seat, Seventh Seat, and Eighth Seat of the Tribulation Immortal Hall—those three powerful Dao Seats—and obtain from them the tokens needed to lift the Seal of Xunfang Jie.
Secondly, Eggy needed prizes to advance.
Lastly came her small wish to make it to the Shenzhou Cup Grand Tournament.
Jiang Ke’er entered the Cultivation Space and treated the System Dummy as if it were Qiao Xiaoxian.
Instantly, she felt her blood boiling, and with renewed vigor, she launched her attack.
“Prepare to die! Today’s the day I shark you!”
Her sword strikes were swift and merciless; even the System Dummy had to temporarily dodge the storm-like assault, scrambling to avoid her blows.
Half an hour later, the light of Revival flickered.
Jiang Ke’er charged again.
[She can already fight for a full half hour, pushing both sides to exhaustion,] the Protagonist System loli watched Jiang Ke’er in astonishment, and she didn’t use any Dharma Aspect! This girl… her strength is almost the same as the dummy! But this is a Five Elements Realm dummy—she’s challenging a higher level!]
Jiang Ke’er hated the feeling of death.
Or rather, she never grew numb to it, no matter how many tens of thousands of times she’d died. With every death, her fear only grew.
Because of that, she put in even more effort to escape death, yet the System Dummy’s dagger always showed no mercy… just like an immortal’s sword.
An immortal’s sword?
Jiang Ke’er froze for a moment and stopped treating the System Dummy as Qiao Xiaoxian.
Qiao Xiaoxian was indeed her most memorable and hated foe, and Jiang Ke’er believed she hated this person to the bone.
Using the dummy as her stand-in for motivation had always felt right.
But this time, she decided to change her thinking.
What did it matter to switch it up this once?
In Jiang Ke’er’s mind, the System Dummy’s appearance morphed into Lord Zuo.
The scene of him strangling Yiqin, all the things that happened within the Supreme Bright Sect, suddenly replayed in her mind.
Jiang Ke’er’s eyes involuntarily turned blood-red, and the Nebula Dharma Aspect flared up once more.
The bell at her neck jingled softly, and a hazy mist struggled to break free from its restraints.
A flash of light—like a fine thread of brilliance—the mist left a trail in the air as Jiang Ke’er moved.
In an instant, sparks flew as dagger and longsword clashed several times mid-air, their wrists trembling with a subtle rhythm, each trying to disarm the other, neither giving an inch!
The X-shaped sword light had just brushed past, knocking aside the System Dummy’s dagger, when the next stroke followed, thrusting straight at the dummy’s throat!
The dummy’s expression remained unchanged, not a hint of panic… but Jiang Ke’er, knowing her opponent well, understood that a blank face and rapid calculations meant the dummy was truly in danger.
Her opponent never panicked, possessing absolute rationality. If it showed fear, that would actually be a trap.
Suddenly, the dummy spun, sacrificing one arm for a chance to counterattack.
With the momentum of its spin, the dagger shot toward Jiang Ke’er’s temple with full force.
Jiang Ke’er’s sword couldn’t parry in time, but she instantly activated the Return Spirit Art.
Shrouded in mist, Jiang Ke’er transformed into a petite fox, dodged the dagger by a hair’s breadth, and bit down on Shuang Ying, slashing at the dummy’s neck!
Unexpectedly, the dummy’s eyes flashed with cunning. It threw away its own dagger and seized Jiang Ke’er’s just-released Qing Cheng!
Qing Cheng and Shuang Ying clashed mid-air, and the terrifying impact blasted Jiang Ke’er skyward! Fortunately, even with her teeth nearly shattering, she didn’t let go, and thus managed to keep hold of Shuang Ying.
Jiang Ke’er reverted to human form and looked at the System Dummy in despair.
This wasn’t the first time her opponent had grabbed Qing Cheng. But every time it did, the fight ended swiftly.
Jiang Ke’er sheathed her sword, drew again, and unleashed a gust of wind—her all-out strike.
But the dummy mirrored her moves.
Two storms collided.
Jiang Ke’er and the dummy both charged forward, diving into the razor-sharp whirlwind.
They moved through the air like fish in water, but with one arm missing, the dummy’s balance was slightly off. Jiang Ke’er seized the opening and went straight for its left-shoulder, now defenseless!
She couldn’t lose.
Losing meant truly dying.
Everything would be over.
…Yet she still lost.
Or rather, it was mutual destruction.
The dummy was pierced through the heart by Jiang Ke’er, and her own heart was likewise run through.
[Challenge cleared!]
[Clearance evaluation – B grade, mutual destruction. Accept this reward? Once accepted, no other reward can be chosen.]
“No!”
Both perishing together—how was that winning?
“Again!”
One day, she was going to shark you—just as simply as killing a chicken!
[Data error.]
At this moment, the Protagonist System floating in the sky stared dumbfounded at the sudden data spike.
At that last instant, when the System Dummy seized Qing Cheng, its computational power suddenly rose tenfold, reaching one ten-thousandth!
Since sword-type weapons shouldn’t have appeared in this level’s training, the System Dummy, by disarming its opponent ahead of schedule, triggered a data error, elevating the challenge to a much higher level in advance.
And even then, it ended in mutual destruction?
“Is this host a monster? How long has she even been training?!”
To all this, Jiang Ke’er remained oblivious.
“Sigh, I’m still too weak.” She sighed gloomily, shutting herself off once more.