Fully Upgraded Xie Xie vs. Gu Yue Holding Back

The girl had no idea what kind of ability Li Qingyue was using.

But being unable to attack him was maddening.

She couldn't attack Li Qingyue, yet he could attack her.

Li Qingyue, however, was clearly disappointed by Gu Yue's arrival.

He had thought Gu Yue might give him another chance to check in.

But when she appeared, the Goddess Illustration System did nothing at all.

And that wasn't even the biggest problem.

When the Goddess Illustration System first appeared, Xu Xiaoyan hadn't triggered it either.

If the system only let him check in with people like Gu Yue, that would be absurd.

Yet he had successfully checked in with Mu Xi before.

With Xu Xiaoyan, though, checking in really hadn't worked.

So Li Qingyue suspected the system might only work after he actually interacted with Xu Xiaoyan, or got to know her.

That made things troublesome.

What he could once do from afar now required him to meet someone up close and form a connection. The difficulty had risen considerably.

This world didn't place many restrictions on a man having multiple wives or concubines.

Society was even quite supportive of men having several girlfriends or women at once.

Once you were an adult, no one interfered.

But no matter how accepting society was, he would have a great many people to check in with.

If he had to approach them one by one, that would be extremely difficult.

For now, each check-in gave him only a tiny boost to his stamina.

But those boosts added up, and the increase to Li Qingyue's stamina was substantial.

After all, Li Qingyue's body wasn't so strong because of Yaoshi's inheritance.

Nor did it have much to do with his Reignbow Arbiter Martial Soul.

The Reignbow Arbiter granted him extreme offensive and destructive power.

The Medicine King's inheritance granted him nearly terrifying Eternal Life and immortality.

Neither had much to do with physical fitness.

Aside from Li Qingyue's own training, his physique came from checking in with Na'er every day.

He had checked in with Na'er for more than a thousand days.

Almost every day brought a tiny extra boost.

Day after day, those boosts piled up, giving Li Qingyue a respectable increase in stamina.

He only checked in with Mu Xi every few days.

But over time, those check-ins had added up too.

That was the real reason Li Qingyue was so strong.

So he truly had been happy when Gu Yue arrived.

The failed check-in, however, left him feeling helpless.

As Li Qingyue saw it, the system had clearly identified Gu Yue and Na'er as the same person: Gu Yuena.

Once the system had registered her or completed a check-in, doing it again was useless.

Li Qingyue's eyes now filled with a tangle of emotions.

Love, hate, grudges, longing—one feeling after another played across his face.

Gu Yue was utterly baffled.

She had never seen so many emotions, or such complicated ones, on a single person's face.

She couldn't understand what Li Qingyue meant by it.

He looked as though he knew her.

The thoughts—or rather, emotions—passing over his face were decidedly strange.

Yet she didn't know what to say.

As Gu Yue approached, Wu Changkong turned his gaze to her.

The plain-looking girl made no particular impression on him.

Li Qingyue's striking looks meant nothing to him.

Neither did Gu Yue's ordinary appearance.

In his mind, when it came to women—or appearances—there were only two categories: Long Bing and everyone else.

Beyond that, he simply didn't care.

When Gu Yue saw Wu Changkong regard her calmly, she bowed slightly to him.

"Teacher, thanks for the effort."

"I'm a transfer student. I missed registration, but I hope I can study at Eastsea Academy."

Gu Yue's words came out unusually muddled.

Perhaps Li Qingyue's complicated, unsettling gaze had thrown her thoughts into disarray.

Wu Changkong listened, his gaze sweeping calmly across the group.

He neither accepted nor refused. Instead, he turned his head slightly and looked over several people.

His gaze passed over Tang Wulin, Xie Xie, Zhou Changxi, Na'er, and Li Qingyue in turn.

The first two he ruled out were Na'er and Li Qingyue.

It seemed inappropriate to have the girl fight either of them.

Their strength was simply too absurd.

If she faced either one, Wu Changkong felt she would have no chance of winning.

Zhou Changxi and Tang Wulin would both have been reasonable choices.

But the most suitable opponent was Xie Xie.

Wu Changkong calmly pointed at Xie Xie, then turned back to the girl. Li Qingyue's mouth twitched.

"This is Xie Xie, a student in our class."

"Xie Xie, come out and spar with her."

"If you can hold out against Xie Xie for five minutes, or beat him, you can join our class."

Wu Changkong looked at Xie Xie, speaking to the girl with complete seriousness.

Gu Yue paused for only a second before nodding calmly.

Xie Xie, meanwhile, was a little bewildered.

He looked first at Li Qingyue.

Only after Li Qingyue nodded to him did Xie Xie walk over calmly.

Li Qingyue was looking forward to this.

After all, this wasn't the Xie Xie he had once been.

This was Xie Xie at full power.

Not only had his Soul Power Level risen, but he had also undergone a month of rigorous combat training.

His improvement in every respect was almost ridiculous.

If the current Xie Xie fought his counterpart from the same point in time, he would probably knock him flat in fewer than five moves.

Gu Yue was strong, but surely there were limits to her strength.

Li Qingyue couldn't help feeling a faint sense of anticipation.

He wanted to see whether this Xie Xie might crush Gu Yue.

Of course, Li Qingyue thought that was unlikely.

Gu Yue's strength was undeniable.

She could probably judge Xie Xie's abilities and the changes in his fighting style, then adjust accordingly.

Sure enough, events unfolded as Li Qingyue expected.

Xie Xie stood there with a proud look on his face. The instant two Yellow Soul Rings appeared around him, Gu Yue regarded him calmly.

Then two Yellow Soul Rings appeared around her as well.

To be honest, Xie Xie felt little when he saw them.

They might both have two Soul Rings, but he believed his were stronger than hers.

Gu Yue's gaze, however, held a trace of something strange.

Your Second Ring and my Second Ring should be two very different things.

Li Qingyue's eyes flickered.

Xie Xie really was at the Second Ring, a native of this world through and through.

Gu Yue's strength far surpassed that level.

A local Soul Master like Xie Xie couldn't beat her.

Even so, the changes brought about by Xie Xie's recent improvement would surely shock Gu Yue.