"She really is exceptional..."
"Completely different from her father."
The teahouse on the mountaintop.
Gu Qing stood with his hands hanging down in front of Zhao Hansheng.
He lost again!
If the first defeat was due to his carelessness and being ambushed by Ning Zhuo, then in the second fight, he truly gave his all, only to watch helplessly as his image projection was crushed by the Divine Separation of the Earth Guardian True Monarch.
A sense of powerlessness filled his heart and mind.
At the same time, he had many doubts.
He could understand Ning Zhuo, but why did Zhu Fenxiang not show any sense of camaraderie either?
Isn’t she part of the Righteous Path?!
Invoking the Earth Guardian True Monarch to fight must be costly, a trump card Zhu Fenxiang had kept hidden. Isn’t it unnecessary to go this far against him?
"I’m just an outsider!"
"I never intended to join the Myriad Images Sect; we could be friends!"
He really wanted to shout this to Zhu Fenxiang.
Zhao Hansheng calmly drank his tea: "So, what will you do next, my student?"
Gu Qing took a deep breath: "Teacher, I’ve thought it over."
"After the battle with Zhu Fenxiang, my situation worsened."
"Her final words intensified public perception of me, greatly urging others to fiercely battle against me, aiming to win in the shortest time possible."
"I’ve become a benchmark of combat strength, which is extremely disadvantageous for me!"
"However, I still can’t truly give my all..."
Gu Qing could only fight using image projections. This had been specified in the letters inviting each other for friendly spars.
At the time, he wanted to spar without hurting harmony, so he chose this method.
Many top-tier geniuses agreed to the challenge because it was merely a spar.
But now, after the battles with Ning Zhuo and Zhu Fenxiang, those top-tier geniuses’ feelings probably have drastically changed. If someone drags out the fight, it surely damages their reputation.
The public loves watching excitement, especially the affairs of top-tier geniuses.
Gu Qing, with a serious expression, said: "I must fight with image projections, but the current public opinion is extremely unfavorable to me."
"The third fight is especially crucial."
"If the opponent still wants to defeat me quickly, I fear that even if others want to have a tacit battle with me later, they would be constrained by the situation and unable to act accordingly."
"So, teacher, I plan to take it slow."
This plan earned Zhao Hansheng’s approval: "Not bad, a true man can be flexible."
The sparring agreement stipulated that neither side could use their true body in battle.
The current situation is quite unfavorable to Gu Qing, so handling it coldly to reduce public attention is the best strategy.
Of course, Gu Qing couldn’t delay too long. If the delay is too long, he would be considered fearful of fighting, and his reputation would suffer.
In fact, just announcing a pause in the sparring would undoubtedly spread rumors, slandering his reputation, calling him cowardly and without the spirit to fight.
Gu Qing didn’t need to guess; he could be certain: among the rumors, there would surely be Ning Zhuo’s handiwork!
But since he thought up this countermeasure, he naturally had already prepared for this point.
Gu Qing looked at Zhao Hansheng: "The third Feiyun Conference of the Confucian Cultivators, the Xingyun Trial, should be able to held soon."
"I need to prepare for this trial—this claim can silence the murmurs."
"At the same time, it is also the stage more suited to me. If Ning Zhuo chooses not to participate, rumors of him being afraid to fight and unwilling to confront me again will spread."
Zhao Hansheng nodded, stroking his beard: "Indeed, attacking with one’s strengths against the opponent’s weakness is a good strategy."
The forms of righteous path confrontations vary.
Just like the previous negotiation between Ning Zhuo and Zhu Guizhi, it was a righteous path confrontation.
Gu Qing would no longer propose to spar with Ning Zhuo, at least not for now.
Although he had a lot of confidence in combat with his true body, he wasn’t aware of Ning Zhuo’s full capabilities, thus understanding there was immense risk involved.
Exceptional righteous individuals do not take risks lightly, striving for the greatest possible success with every move.
Gu Qing knew that to salvage the situation, he needed to trample Ning Zhuo down and wash away the shame.
He wanted to leverage the third Confucian Cultivator’s Trial to create his own home-field advantage, accumulate the highest possible victory rate, and thus defeat Ning Zhuo!
Ban Family.
Deep within the Clan Ancestral Hall.
A group of Supreme Family Elders surrounded the Clan Fate Mechanism Chain.
Their gazes focused on the image of Qi Fortune.
The Hand of Destiny representing Ning Zhuo had a thicker layer of ice covering its surface.
The ice resisted the entanglement and penetration of thorns, greatly alleviating the damage from the pages and ink rain.
"Oh? Has Ning Zhuo’s situation improved this much?!"
"How exactly did he achieve this?"
"By relying on an Ice Attribute Golden Core Puppet, he defeated Gu Qing’s image projection and even framed him. Now, after the battle with Zhu Fenxiang, Gu Qing has almost become a public target for top-tier geniuses to compete over from a distance. There’s no denying that Ning Zhuo played his hand well."
The Supreme Family Elders of the Ban Family understood that the Hand of Destiny was using ice armor to withstand the erosion of the pages and ink rain.
But why were the thorns also constrained?
They hadn’t discovered the private confrontation between Ning Zhuo and Zhu Guizhi and were still unaware.
"No wonder he is the King’s Order’s Human Tribulation; he is really troublesome."
"Should we really not intervene?"
"Hold back! If we intervene boldly now, we’ll only implicate Ban Ji."
"The stronger Ning Zhuo becomes, the more advantage Ban Ji will gain from defeating him in the future!"
As the Supreme Family Elders were discussing, the Qi Fortune changed again.
The fortune of the book pages representing Gu Qing and Zhao Hansheng suddenly soared, widening the gap with Ning Zhuo.
As the distance widened, the pages began to increase, turning from one sheet into several.
The ink rain was no longer as fierce, becoming fine and prolonged.
Most importantly, the thorny vines were also corroded by the ink rain, with fine characters appearing on them.
"Oh? The intertwining of these three types of fortunes has deepened to the extent that Gu Qing’s fortune already started to affect the other party."
"Perhaps we can glean insights from Gu Qing’s movements to figure out the character represented by the thorny vines."
The thorny vines seemed to receive nourishment from rain after a long drought, swelling immediately, their spikes elongated, piercing deeper into the Hand of Destiny.
Meanwhile, the pages seemed to have been drained of nutrients, becoming somewhat yellowed and thin.
"It seems that the struggle between Ning Zhuo and Gu Qing instead benefited a third party."
"Ning Zhuo’s Hand of Destiny is almost being pierced by the thorny spikes. Heh heh heh, indeed, he is in trouble!"
"Ning Zhuo’s Hand of Destiny continues to grasp ice attribute aura. This likely represents his accumulation and growth in the Ice Attribute Mechanical Puppet. He can still resist this unfolding future tribulation."
The imagery of Qi Fortune revealed recent trends of change.
Both implicit and direct, it helps others quickly judge the situation.
But this result was strictly kept secret by the Ban Family, with not a single detail leaked.
Bluestone Cave Mansion.
Ning Zhuo was reviewing his battle with Zhu Guizhi.
"The Divine Summoning Technique is really convenient. The Gods fight autonomously, not needing the Cultivator’s control."
"Looking at the whole process and the final result, Snow Core Control·Xie was a pillar, withstanding the greatest pressure, many times fighting two opponents at once."
"The Snow-colored Girl·Hui was more of an auxiliary role, still lacking when truly confronting Golden Core Level opponents."
Ning Zhuo had already decided to enhance the materials of the Snow-colored Girl·Hui on a large scale.
Snow Core Control·Xie saw a significant increase in strength due to material upgrades, and the same could be done for Snow-colored Girl·Hui.
"However, materials like Eternal Silence Mystic Ice can’t be used on Snow-colored Girl·Hui."
The Snow-colored Girl·Hui’s innate trait is Ice-jade Hands, containing vitality. This characteristic is an extreme contrast to Eternal Silence Mystic Ice, like black and white, water and fire.
Ning Zhuo’s material selection needed to revolve around Ice-jade Hands.
"Time is tight, so it’s best not to make major changes to the Mechanical Diagram. Let’s just make improvements based on the original foundation of Snow-colored Girl·Hui."
Ning Zhuo was quite confident in this regard.
His realms in Artifact Refining and Mechanical Techniques had significantly improved. Implementing it will surely continue the previous success on Snow-colored Girl·Hui!