Military Tactics Used Against Me?

By this point, Qian Renxue had instead calmed down.

She raised her head to look at Su Cheng.

"Teacher, I really can't."

"If you can't, learn now. The soul ring can still last for a while. It's enough." Su Cheng forcefully suppressed the anger in his heart and spoke coldly.

He could not understand which screw had come loose in Qian Renxue's head today for her to go crazy here.

"I can't do it." The girl's long, delicate eyelashes trembled slightly as she stubbornly met his gaze.

"Fine, I'll go find Spirit Falcon Douluo to help you."

"I don't trust anyone else."

"You don't even trust your grandfather?"

"..." Qian Renxue said nothing, merely looking at him.

"Then stay here and waste your time."

Su Cheng snorted coldly and turned to leave.

Just as he took two steps forward and reached the stairs at the entrance to the dungeon—

A fierce gust suddenly struck from behind.

Su Cheng instinctively tilted his head aside and dodged.

Smack!

A palm-sized wooden box slammed into the stone wall ahead of him, then shattered into powder and scattered across the floor.

That blow had clearly been infused with Soul Power. Not only had the wooden box shattered, but several Silver Needles that fell from within had snapped in half as well.

"Fuck!"

Su Cheng's eyes narrowed as he felt the situation slipping somewhat out of control.

Qian Renxue's reverence for him was steadily dwindling.

After pausing for a moment, he took another box of Silver Needles from his Soul Tool and tossed it behind him.

His voice also softened as he tried to persuade her. "Xiao Xue, don't be so—"

Smack!

"—willful..."

Watching another wooden box turn to powder in front of him, Su Cheng fell silent.

Taking a deep breath, he turned around again and shouted sternly, "Qian Renxue! Don't go too far!"

Qian Renxue was still standing where she had been, calmly looking at him. Other than the slight redness in her eyes, she was no different from before.

The muscles at the corner of Su Cheng's eye twitched uncontrollably twice.

"Then don't level up!" With that, he turned and walked up the stairs. "You'd better think this through carefully. Once you understand, come upstairs and get the Silver Needles from me."

Time passed second by second.

Leaning against the iron door, Su Cheng sat blankly on the stone steps at the dungeon entrance.

If he had been pursuing Qian Renxue in reality, he would probably have been willing to do so. But the ultimate outcome of this simulation was laid out before him. The two of them were destined to face each other in battle someday.

Moreover, he had always been using this girl. She was the most vital chess piece in his plan, the sharpest blade.

Qian Daoliu, Bibi Dong, even the elders of Spirit Hall—all of them needed this future Angel God to remove them.

Then she could die.

Su Cheng took out another box of Silver Needles from his Soul Tool and rubbed them back and forth between his fingers.

He stared into the distance with unfocused eyes.

Life in the simulation was no different from the real world. He had long understood that this was not a game at all, but another real world.

Qian Renxue, Chen Xin, Chrysanthemum Douluo, and the others were not NPCs either. They were living, breathing people.

At the very least, the feelings they gave one another were utterly real.

If he immersed himself in it, would he still be able to bring himself to act when the time came?

Matters of the heart were never that simple.

That was also why he had always maintained an appropriate distance from Qian Renxue.

Su Cheng suddenly realized that perhaps the difficulty of this simulation lay not only in Spirit Hall, but in himself as well.

"I'm fucking sick. I should've just let her absorb the soul ring herself back then. Why the hell did I insist on coming along?"

Half an hour had already passed, yet there was still no movement in the dungeon.

In another half hour, that exceedingly rare soul ring would completely dissipate.

Going to find Qian Daoliu now was definitely not an option.

There was no way to explain this matter clearly.

If that old man misunderstood and lost his temper, then took back Qian Renxue's education rights, it would inevitably add complications to the original plan.

Only fifteen minutes remained, and there was still no movement in the dungeon.

"Damn it, isn't this bullying an honest man?!"

Su Cheng rose to his feet bitterly.

So she's playing the burn-your-boats card with me, huh!

Is there no law? No justice?!

Qian Renxue could make such a willful move without leaving herself any room to retreat, but Su Cheng could not simply stand by and watch.

Only by ensuring that she built the best possible foundation and underwent the divine trials in her peak condition would she have a chance of defeating Bibi Dong, who possessed Twin Martial Souls, in the future.

"You really are Bibi Dong's daughter. Your mind is just as abnormal as hers."

Su Cheng's mocking voice once again echoed through the gloomy dungeon.

Yet Qian Renxue did not care in the slightest what he was saying. A captivating smile bloomed once more on her face, which had been calm to the point of numbness.

The brilliance of that instant seemed enough to illuminate the entire dark dungeon.

Even Su Cheng was distracted for a moment.

"Teacher, I'm terribly untalented. I really can't do it."

"..."

Your mouth really is tough.

Su Cheng was completely helpless.

"Go over there and get ready."

A flush spread across Qian Renxue's face at his words as she walked to the corpse of the Holy Light Beast, long since dead.

At this point, she became shy again.

With her back to Su Cheng, she slowly undid the buttons of her top, and her elaborate gown parted to either side.

Her slender jade-like arm brushed past her neck, making the tips of her golden hair sway gently. Under the candlelight, they seemed to ripple with flowing waves.

Then, her exquisite collarbones and snow-white fragrant shoulders were revealed one after another.

Even within this dim dungeon, her delicate skin seemed to carry a lustrous jade-like sheen.

As her top slipped off, her smooth back and slender waist outlined a perfect curve, a grace that even the finest sculptor in the world might struggle to replicate in the slightest.

Qian Renxue tilted her head slightly back, her long swanlike neck tracing a beautiful arc.

When she saw Su Cheng behind her, her faintly flushed cheeks stiffened slightly.

Somehow, he had found a strip of black cloth and tied it over his head, completely covering his eyes.

She could not help asking hesitantly, "How are you going to insert the needles with your eyes covered?"

"It's fine." Su Cheng's tone was calm amid the darkness before his eyes. "Don't underestimate my professional abilities."

"Hmph." Qian Renxue stuck out her tongue at his words, though she secretly breathed a sigh of relief as well.

Though she had appeared calm earlier, she had actually been panicking inside too.

Now, her emotions had eased considerably.

That would also benefit her absorption of the soul ring later.

Once the two sat cross-legged facing one another, a faint pressure spread outward with Su Cheng at its center.

His Spiritual Power had now reached the point where he could project it outward. Combined with the rudimentary form of his Sword Domain, it was enough to outline the figure before him.

Su Cheng took a Silver Needle from the wooden box and held it in his palm with a reverse grip.

His fingers paused slightly in midair before reaching forward, probing toward the waist of the figure he sensed ahead.

Covering his eyes was indeed a good method.

But what this perception projected into his mind was only a silhouette, incapable of distinguishing specific details.

Thus, at a cost, he had to make subtle contact with his fingers and then stimulate the area slightly with Soul Power before he could precisely determine the locations of those Acupoints.