Chapter 88: Yun the Mirror, the Trickster!

After entering the Divine Transformation realm, Wang Li continued his cultivation step by step. During this period, he used the reward techniques that Jiang Yue had acquired from the Chosen Ranking to upgrade his own five-element techniques. Jiang Yue possessed quite a number of techniques—almost a hundred of various attributes between rewards and her personal collection. The quantity was impressive, but Wang Li was unable to synthesize a Heaven-tier technique. Instead, he merely elevated his existing techniques, including the “Soul Suppression Formula” and the “Thunder Justice Chapter,” to top-tier Profound-level techniques.

Ultimately, Wang Li’s foundation was too weak. Heaven-tier techniques were not within his reach. According to Master Sheng’s explanation, to synthesize such a technique, Wang Li would either have to find a Heaven-tier technique to cultivate and then synthesize an enhanced version based on that, or wait until he had survived the Immortal Tribulation and use the prowess of an immortal to attempt synthesis. At present, neither condition was attainable for Wang Li; cultivating a Heaven-tier technique was nothing but wishful thinking. Master Sheng had also made it clear he would not assist in deducing a Heaven-tier technique, so Wang Li could only continue his cultivation as usual, occasionally coaxing Jiang Yue, who was gradually growing from a wild little girl into a graceful young maiden.

Still, Wang Li was quite satisfied with his current circumstances. With the power of the Divine Transformation realm, he felt much more confident about assisting Ling Xiao. The sole regret was that there was no opponent of equal realm to spar with, so his combat skills remained only slightly superior to the Lin brothers. He eagerly awaited the day the Lin brothers reached the Divine Transformation realm themselves, so he could once again gain easy experience from their battles. As for others—their realms were simply too low and they had lost the right to be sparring partners.

Although Jiang Yue was playful, her cultivation advanced rapidly—so quickly that Wang Li began to suspect his earlier guess that she had been “accelerated” was wrong. Perhaps Jiang Yue really was a rare genius, appearing only once in a millennium. This was not mere speculation; Wang Li had witnessed it firsthand. When Jiang Yue first arrived, her Golden Core was not yet stable. Despite her mischievous ways, within less than a month, she stabilized her first stage of the Golden Core realm. Over the next three months, she cultivated and played simultaneously, advancing to the third stage of the Golden Core realm. Though she had ample resources, breaking through two stages in three months was an astonishingly fast pace—out in the world, it would be considered miraculous, and even in the Chosen Ruins, her speed was among the best.

If Wang Li himself were not so anomalous, and if he had not found anything unusual about her, he might even suspect she was a backup candidate for the Child of Destiny.

Thus, nearly a year passed. One day, Jiang Yue suddenly said to Wang Li, “The first phase of the survival task is complete. The ruins battlefield has opened—two thousand people have entered.”

Wang Li was taken aback. “Has five years really passed so quickly?”

“What did you expect?” Jiang Yue replied with pride. “I’m sixteen now—a true princess!”

Wang Li, hearing this, examined her closely.

Noticing the strange look in Wang Li’s eyes, Jiang Yue blushed and shouted coquettishly, “What are you staring at? Be careful or I’ll smash you with my little hammer!”

She remembered the things she’d heard while with Yun Jingzi in the Pure Yang Secret Realm, and her heart suddenly sped up.

“No way—I couldn’t possibly fall for this wretched guy,” she thought. “He’s ugly and stodgy… Wait, he’s an old monster! I’m a princess, and I prefer dashing young heroes, not ancient seniors thousands of years old…”

Her thoughts grew chaotic, and she suddenly realized she might have been tricked by Yun Jingzi.

“Yun Jingzi, you liar!” she exclaimed to herself.

Yun Jingzi was the younger sister of Senior Sister Huai Ji—so a liar’s sister must also be a liar. Yes, that logic was flawless!

Jiang Yue’s peculiar thought process quickly found her a reasonable explanation. She put on a stern face and declared, “Wang Li, I am the last disciple of the Sect Master, and you are a steward of the sect. Our statuses differ—please conduct yourself with propriety!”

“Pfft…” Wang Li was amused by her words and couldn’t help but laugh aloud.

“What’s so funny?” As soon as Wang Li laughed, Jiang Yue grew unhappy, her manufactured seriousness dissolving into anger. “Are you crazy?”

Wang Li waved his hand, suppressing his laughter. “Are you stupid? With your flat-chested figure… I’m not blind… haha!”

“You… shameless! Take this hammer!”

Clearly stung, Jiang Yue swung her hammer decisively, proving her fury with action.

Wang Li, smiling, didn’t even bother to dodge. He triggered a layer of golden light around himself.

“Clang!”

A loud crash echoed—Jiang Yue was sent flying by the immense recoil, and then… she fainted dramatically.

“How many times has this happened now…” Wang Li sighed.

It seemed every time Jiang Yue sparred with him, she ended up unconscious. What did it mean? A law of nature?

Shaking his head to dispel such thoughts, Wang Li quickly revived Jiang Yue.

After waking, she stared at Wang Li for a long moment, finally squeezing out, “Were you just playing with me before?”

“What?” Wang Li was baffled.

“When we sparred, why did you let me win?”

“Huh?”

Wang Li was utterly confused.

I didn’t let you win—I was genuinely weak back then!

But his persona wouldn’t allow him to admit such a thing, so he rose and stood to one side, gazing at the nonexistent stars above, intoning softly, “The world laughs at my madness; I laugh at their blindness. No grave of heroes in Wuling, only flowers and wine, and tilling the fields.”

“Hey, kid, dare to show off with Old Tang’s poetry—did you ask his permission?” Master Sheng, unable to stand his antics, interjected, “Don’t misuse other people’s verses. Plagiarism is shameful—be careful, or someone might come knocking!”

“You’ve used them yourself—why can’t I?” Wang Li retorted, refusing to back down.

Master Sheng snorted, “That’s different! I had authorization!”

Wang Li said, “If I recall, Old Tang has been dead for hundreds of years in your world—how did you get authorization?”

“I see you just like to spout nonsense. The poems in books are like the head of the abbess—if a monk can touch it, so can I.”

“Bah, what do you know about nonsense? Do you even know who Ah Q is?”

“I don’t.”

“Then don’t go misusing things!”

Master Sheng’s reaction seemed fierce, but in truth, he was quite pleased.

“If only he could truly understand these things…” Master Sheng mused, a sudden inspiration flashing in his mind.

Wang Li and Master Sheng bickered for a while, so engrossed that they forgot all about Jiang Yue, who was still lying on the ground, and couldn’t even recall why they had started arguing.

Pretending to be aloof is a skill—miss the timing, and you can’t keep it up.

Caught up in the banter with Master Sheng, Wang Li had no idea what Jiang Yue thought when she saw his “imposing figure,” but destined for loneliness, he asked, “Now that you’re separated from the Chosen Ranking, can you still see the rankings?”

Jiang Yue was momentarily stunned, then nodded.

In truth, what lingered before her eyes was still Wang Li’s melancholy gaze toward the sky.