A Qing, Stop Scratching!

The Zhongli Family's Training Ground was vast, with every kind of facility surrounding it and a well-equipped rest area. It had not been maintained lately, so it would still leave something to be desired when actually put to use, but it was already quite good.

Mo Yuqing and Zhongli stood at opposite ends of the field, their Martial Souls gathered in their hands as they stared at each other from afar.

"Does your shield need any preparation? I mean, does it have any prerequisites or something?" Mo Yuqing asked.

"It can be cast unconditionally and lasts twenty minutes. We can begin at any time." Zhongli raised a hand in invitation and smiled.

"Here I come. Don't blink!"

Mo Yuqing gripped Mist Splitter tightly in one hand, her gaze gradually sharpening. She stomped off the ground and shot toward Zhongli like an arrow loosed from a bow, slashing down with Mist Splitter at the same time.

"All-encompassing."

Zhongli calmly raised both hands. A thin pale-yellow shield instantly formed around him. It looked rather flimsy, yet it steadily blocked Mo Yuqing's slash. Its light merely seemed to dim slightly upon being struck.

Don't misunderstand—the shield was not about to break. That was simply its effect when it was hit. If it did not react at all, that would be far too despairing.

"The strength isn't bad, but this ends here." The corners of Mo Yuqing's lips rose slightly. At that moment, she had yet to realize the severity of the situation. She only knew that she had used merely thirty percent of her strength to avoid accidentally hurting Zhongli, and even that thirty percent had been enough to dim the shield.

So this shield could be broken!

Mist Splitter came down again, with noticeably greater force and speed than before. This time, Mo Yuqing used fifty percent of her strength, intending to shatter Zhongli's shield with just the right amount of force.

But...

The Jade Shield merely dimmed again before steadily taking her attack once more. Zhongli's expression within the shield was completely calm, as though he had known all along that she could not break it.

This shield seemed a little too tough?

Mo Yuqing lightly bit down, then simply slashed with eighty percent of her strength. Yet the effect of that eighty-percent strike was still the same as the earlier thirty-percent strike. It was enough to make her question her life.

Could it be that the effect of being hit had nothing to do with the attack's power? How could that be possible?!

"You can use your full strength," Zhongli said with a smile.

"Hmph, you don't need to tell me!"

Mo Yuqing gave a soft snort and slashed at the Jade Shield with all her strength. But all she heard was a sharp ding, and Mist Splitter was sent flying away. The recoil left her arm aching badly.

Was this shield really that hard?

Though she was shocked, Mo Yuqing was not one to give up easily. She lightly bit her lip and continued attacking, slashing down again and again. Yet no matter how many times she struck, the Jade Shield remained as it had from the beginning, symbolically dimming a little while suffering no actual effect.

"Ding!"

Mist Splitter was knocked away again. Sweat trickled down from Mo Yuqing's temples—she was exhausted from all that scratching. The next moment, she bit her lip and swept a leg directly at Zhongli's unshielded lower body.

This girl had some ideas!

Zhongli's gaze sharpened as he made a slight defensive move. Until now, he had never tested whether the shield could protect the seemingly unprotected empty space around his lower body. The Jade Shield only guarded against an opponent's attacks, not his own, so he certainly could not test it alone. And before Martial Soul Awakening, it had not been easy to find someone else to test it with.

"Bang!"

Mo Yuqing's foot struck a shield that appeared nonexistent but was truly there. Though her shin throbbed with pain, she still clenched her teeth and glared fiercely at Zhongli's Jade Shield before raising Mist Splitter and charging in to slash again.

At this point, she had become utterly obsessed!

A long while later...

"Crack."

Zhongli's Jade Shield cracked, and the fissures rapidly spread within moments before it vanished with a pop.

"Huff... huff... Is that all the strength you've got?"

Drenched in sweat and barely able to stand steadily, Mo Yuqing was already exhausted beyond measure. Yet she still endured her discomfort and stubbornly smiled. "Hehe, that was easy!"

Zhongli: ...

I'm almost too embarrassed to tell you that you didn't break the shield. Its duration just ran out. In other words, you scratched at it for a full twenty minutes, and the shield still didn't break.

Zhongli's expression shifted slightly. He smiled faintly and raised both hands. "As Solid as Bedrock."

A new shield instantly covered him.

"Haha... heh... uh... huh?"

Mo Yuqing, who had just been laughing, was utterly dumbfounded. She stared blankly at Zhongli's shield, as though something inside her had quietly shattered. She could no longer summon any desire to break the shield, her eyes fixed straight on it.

"Since it was so easy, why don't you see if you can hit me?" Zhongli said with a smiling squint.

He might also be named Zhongli, but he was not that Zhongli. He had his own little ideas, and sometimes he enjoyed messing with people's mentality in a subtly wicked way. He only imitated Zhongli because he found it more interesting. If someone else had Zhongli's panel, they might try imitating him for fun too.

Besides, Zhongli possessed the authority of the Geo Archon and could freely create Gold Soul Coins... anytime, anywhere...

On the other side.

Mo Yuqing's eyes brimmed with tears.

Her defenses had been shattered! Completely shattered!

"I'm not fighting anymore! There's something seriously wrong with your shield! So what if it can take hits? Can you even attack from inside the shield? This turtle shell is useless!" Mo Yuqing gritted her teeth hard and shouted at the brand-new shield with a look of grief and indignation.

"Hm?"

Zhongli casually swung Vortex Vanquisher. The spear passed through the shield without the slightest obstruction, completely unaffected in its attack, dealing a massive blow to Mo Yuqing's young heart.

"This... this... this shield is cheating!"

The six-year-old little girl could not bear the blow any longer. She plopped down on the ground and said through tears, "How can there be a shield this hard that doesn't affect attacks at all? Can this thing even be called a Martial Soul? It's unfair, completely unfair!"

"My Mist Splitter Reforged also has Innate Full Soul Power. How can the difference in strength be this huge? I can't even break its defenses. Could my Martial Soul actually be a useless Martial Soul? Did I just happen to have Innate Full Soul Power? Wuwu~"

Zhongli coughed twice, then slowly walked over to Mo Yuqing. She immediately turned her head away, putting on an expression that said she did not want to deal with him. She looked adorable.

"My shield can be put on you."

Zhongli said it quietly.

"Hm, put it on me?"

Mo Yuqing wiped away her tears and looked at Zhongli suspiciously. If this shield can even be put on someone else, wouldn't the gap be even bigger? Could my Mist Splitter really be a useless Martial Soul? Did I only happen to have Innate Full Soul Power?

"Fortified as a Golden Moat."

Zhongli raised both hands, and a thin pale-yellow shield appeared around Mo Yuqing.

Mo Yuqing looked at the shield around herself and tried touching it with her hand, but her hand passed through it easily without encountering any obstruction. There also seemed to be a faint layer of shielding around her hand. Even when her hand extended beyond the surface of the shield, it was still within its protection.

This shield... seemed really amazing?