Hu Liena had been unable to sleep for three whole days.
Over those three days, she had changed inns three times, rooms four times, and pillows five times, but no matter what she changed, she simply could not sleep.
Whenever she closed her eyes, Yi Yun's smiling face appeared in her mind, along with those words that had left her both angry and embarrassed.
"Miss, you smell like a fox."
"Bastard!" Hu Liena hurled her pillow at the wall. It bounced back and hit her in the face.
She felt she must be ill. Someone had teased her, yet instead of hating him, she thought about him day and night. If that was not an illness, what was it? But Hu Liena refused to admit that her heart had been stirred.
How could the Holy Maiden of Spirit Hall, a genius of the Golden Generation, fall for a man she had only met once?
Impossible. Absolutely impossible.
She simply refused to accept it. Yes, that was all.
So what if he was a Titled Douluo? She was Spirit Hall's Holy Maiden, a rank-forty-eight Soul Ancestor with a demon fox martial soul and extraordinary talent. Even if she could not beat him, she had to test just how strong he was. She could not let a few words from him scare her off.
"That's right, I'm going to challenge him!" Hu Liena sat up in bed, fighting spirit blazing in her eyes. "I'll show him that I, Hu Liena, am not someone he can push around!"
She jumped out of bed, got dressed, pushed open the window, and climbed out.
In the darkness, a slender figure swept over the rooftops toward Nuoding Academy.
Yi Yun was just getting ready for bed when he suddenly sensed an aura rapidly approaching. It moved very fast, with light footsteps and a trace of foxlike cunning.
Yi Yun sighed and pulled his half-removed clothes back on.
Yi Yun opened the door to find Hu Liena standing outside. The night breeze had tousled her short golden hair, her cheeks were slightly flushed, her breathing was rapid, and her eyes held a stubborn refusal to admit defeat.
"It's the middle of the night. Aren't you going to sleep?" Yi Yun leaned against the doorframe and yawned.
"No."
"Then what do you want?"
Hu Liena took a deep breath. "I want to challenge you."
Yi Yun paused, then laughed. "You? Challenge me?"
"Yes."
"Do you know what rank I am?"
"Ninety-nine."
"Then do you know what rank you are?"
"Forty-eight."
"Then what are you going to challenge me with?"
"Everything I have."
"All right." Yi Yun nodded. "Let's go to the training ground."
Hu Liena stood ten meters opposite Yi Yun, her hands hanging naturally at her sides, her whole body like a leopard poised to spring.
She had already released her martial soul. The faint golden apparition of a fox appeared behind her, its nine tails swaying gently in the night breeze.
The demon fox martial soul was a top-tier agility-attack martial soul, adept at speed, deception, and assassination.
Yi Yun stood opposite her with his hands in his pockets, looking relaxed, as though he were out for a stroll.
"Ready?" Yi Yun asked.
Rather than answer, Hu Liena attacked.
Her figure flashed, turning into a golden afterimage. In an instant, she appeared behind Yi Yun, her right hand hooked into a claw as she struck straight at the back of his neck.
She put seventy percent of her strength into this move, moving so fast that an ordinary Soul Ancestor could not even follow it.
Then her hand closed on empty air.
At some point, Yi Yun had already turned around and was watching her with a smile.
"Too slow."
Gritting her teeth, Hu Liena unleashed a string of attacks.
Left claw, right claw, horizontal sweep, vertical chop-every strike was fast and vicious, raising a sharp whistle as it cut through the air.
But no matter how she attacked, she could not even touch the hem of Yi Yun's clothes.
He was like a leaf drifting on the wind. Each time her attack was about to land, he would turn slightly to one side, evading it by just enough.
"Is dodging all you can do?" Hu Liena grew impatient.
"Dodging is a skill too," Yi Yun said with a smile.
A golden gleam flashed through Hu Liena's eyes, and the fox apparition behind her suddenly became more solid.
Her pupils became vertical slits, her nails grew long and sharp, and the faint images of nine golden tails appeared behind her.
Demon fox true body, the state of Martial Soul Possession.
This was the strongest form Hu Liena could currently use.
"Let's see where you dodge this time!" Hu Liena's figure flashed, her speed doubling.
This time, she did not attack directly. Instead, she circled Yi Yun at high speed, leaving golden afterimages in her wake. Nine afterimages attacked Yi Yun simultaneously from nine different directions.
Nine afterimages, nine directions, nine attacks-as fast as lightning, as dense as a torrential downpour.
Then she stopped.
At some point, Yi Yun had reached out his right hand and pinched Hu Liena's right cheek between two fingers, as though pinching a little fox.
Hu Liena froze on the spot, and the nine afterimages vanished instantly.
Her eyes went perfectly round, her pupils filled with disbelief. He had pinched her cheek? She had used her strongest secret technique, Nine Shadow Kill, only to have her cheek pinched?
"This little fox is quite stubborn." Yi Yun pinched Hu Liena's face as though kneading dough, squeezing it this way and that. "Your cheeks are pretty soft."
Hu Liena's face went from white to red, from red to purple, and from purple to blue. She was Spirit Hall's Holy Maiden, a genius of the Golden Generation, someone countless people looked up to.
Now someone was pinching her cheek and calling her a "little fox."
"You... let go of me!" Hu Liena's voice had even changed pitch.
"Admit defeat, and I'll let go."
"I won't!"
"Then I'll keep pinching."
"You!"
Yi Yun pinched her again. Hu Liena's eyes reddened with anger. She had never suffered such humiliation before.
"Will you admit defeat?"
"No!"
"You really won't?"
"No!"
Yi Yun let go and stepped back. "Forget it. I'll stop teasing you."
Hu Liena covered her cheek and retreated several steps, watching Yi Yun warily. Her cheeks were red from being pinched, her eyes were red, and her lips were pressed tightly together. She looked like a little fox that had been wronged.
"You... you're bullying me!"
"You were the one who said you wanted to challenge me."
"I didn't say you could pinch my face!"
"You didn't say I couldn't, either."
Hu Liena trembled all over with anger. She wanted to curse him but did not know what to say. She wanted to hit him but could not beat him. All she could do was stand there and glare at Yi Yun with eyes full of fury.
Seeing Hu Liena's puffed-up, angry expression, Yi Yun could not help laughing. "All right, all right. Don't be angry. Your strength is pretty good. You're just too impatient."
Hu Liena paused. "What do you mean?"
"You're fast, and your footwork is agile, but you're too eager to end the fight quickly. You went all out right from the start. That's no good. A fight isn't a hundred-meter sprint; it's a marathon. You need to learn to ration your stamina and control the pace."
Hu Liena fell silent. She had not expected Yi Yun to seriously critique her fighting. This had not been a fight, but a one-sided crushing.
"You lost because you had no patience," Yi Yun said. "Go back and practice properly. Maybe next time you'll last one more move."
"One move?"
"Yes. Maybe next time you'll make it to the second move."
Hu Liena took a deep breath. She did not know whether to be angry or grateful. Yi Yun was right. She had indeed been too impatient, going all out right from the start, only to have him pinch her cheek with effortless ease.
"I'll be back." Hu Liena turned to leave.
"Wait."
Hu Liena stopped without turning around.
"Is your cheek all right? I didn't use much force."
"It's fine!" Hu Liena's voice was muffled.
"That's good. Go back and get to bed early. Staying up late isn't good for girls."
Biting her lip, Hu Liena hurried out of the training ground. She was afraid that if she stayed any longer, she really would start crying.
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