The Strongest Spearman!

Ye Li had already gained some understanding of martial artists with a bit of talent like this.

They thought they could easily crush him, only to be knocked flat in two or three moves. Naturally, they found it hard to accept.

To prevent that from happening, he never showed mercy, striving to shatter their pride in one go and reap a large number of Malice Points.

He had done well the previous few times. Wang Ren, Shen Lian, and even Liu Yangde had all been beaten so badly that they no longer had the courage to come looking for trouble.

Taking a step back, even if they still harbored resentment toward Ye Li, they would not dare show it openly again.

Yet Jiang Qingzhu had actually come knocking again before long, which surprised Ye Li somewhat.

It seemed that true Martial Prodigies really were different from those small fry...

As his thoughts churned, Ye Li asked calmly,

"Do you need something?"

True qi flowed slowly through his body.

Even though activating [Golden Soul Revival] earlier had left less than half of his true qi remaining, Ye Li was absolutely certain he could take her down within three moves.

"I do."

At that, Jiang Qingzhu drew a deep breath. As though she had summoned tremendous courage, she said earnestly, "I want to apologize to you first."

"Apologize?" Ye Li raised an eyebrow, unable to tell what medicine she was selling from her gourd.

"Yes. I heard everything you said at the hospital..."

Jiang Qingzhu nodded lightly and said apologetically, "I really did call you over because I had thoughts like, 'I can't waste too much time on this and delay my training. I should settle it quickly.'"

"I have nothing to say about being defeated by you. I only hope you can accept my apology."

She spoke with extreme sincerity. Even Ye Li could not detect any trace of an act.

And if it was an act, it was far too contrived...

"I see." Ye Li was a little disappointed. He had thought she had come to cause trouble.

But he still did not entirely give up, instead saying blandly,

"However, if Student Jiang sincerely wants to apologize to someone, then kneeling in dogeza is the bare minimum. Don't you even know that?"

"Dogezа?"

Confusion appeared on Jiang Qingzhu's cool, delicate face. "What is that?"

"...Forget it."

Ye Li sighed. Since she had come to apologize and her attitude was fairly sincere, he could not be bothered to demand anything more.

For him, forcing those utterly unrepentant people to do such things was what made it interesting, like Shen Lian.

It took a villain to deal with a villain. For someone like Jiang Qingzhu, who was so proactive in admitting her mistake, giving her one chance was not impossible.

With that in mind, Ye Li waved a hand and said impatiently,

"I'll reluctantly accept your apology. Please leave."

"Wait a moment!"

Seeing that he was about to close the door, Jiang Qingzhu hurriedly called out.

At the same time, she instinctively stretched out a hand, wanting to brace the closing door.

Yet the instant she touched it, she felt an enormous force that she could not resist at all. Her outstretched hand did not even slow the door by a fraction before it was knocked back.

The door then slammed shut.

Bang!

[Making the pure-hearted eldest daughter of the Jiang Family eat a closed door, Malice Points +200!]

Jiang Qingzhu stared blankly at the closed door before her, then looked at her slender palm.

Based on their clash that afternoon, his strength should not have differed much from hers.

So where had that tremendous force come from...

Just as she was wondering—

Creak!

The door before her opened again. Ye Li looked at her impatiently and asked,

"What else is it?"

Before she could figure out the reason for that immense force, Jiang Qingzhu hurriedly said, "There's something else I want to ask of you."

"Speak."

"Did you say this afternoon that my spear technique was like a pile of crap?" the girl asked seriously.

"Hm?"

Ye Li was immediately intrigued. From the way she was asking, had she come to cause trouble after apologizing?

Not bad. She had even learned to be polite before drawing her sword...

Ye Li nodded at once and chuckled. "I said it. So what?"

Jiang Qingzhu nodded, then rattled off a whole string of things as though reciting treasures,

"You also said my reaction speed was as slow as an old person's, and that I felt way too good about myself."

"That's right. So what?"

"Then please teach me."

Under Ye Li's slightly stunned gaze, Jiang Qingzhu lifted her small face and said earnestly, "As long as my spear technique can improve, I'm willing to do anything."

"Teach you spear technique?"

After a brief moment of surprise, Ye Li frowned and replied without hesitation, "I refuse."

What a joke. He himself was already troubled by not being able to find a suitable Breathing Technique!

And the money on him vanished far too quickly. He could not even afford to buy cultivation resources, much less several high-quality new martial skills.

Ye Li had even started considering whether he should leave the city and enter a secret realm to hunt exotic beasts for money.

And now she wanted him to teach some young miss spear technique?

Not a chance.

"Besides..."

"I don't know how to teach people either." Ye Li shook his head. "Find someone else."

With that, he prepared to close the door again.

Seeing this, Jiang Qingzhu hurriedly said, "I can teach you everything I know too, in exchange. Anything is fine!"

The closing door suddenly halted. Ye Li cast her a surprised look and asked as if to confirm,

"Anything is fine?"

If he remembered correctly, any S-Grade Breathing Technique would cost more than five million Hanxia Coins.

And they were all so scarce that they had a price but no market. They were generally things only the direct disciples of major sects could learn, or the direct lineages of certain great families could browse.

Teaching them to outsiders so casually...

At the very least, Ye Li had never even heard of such a thing.

So he found it truly difficult to believe someone could be this innocent.

Compared to that, it was more likely that she was playing him.

"Yes!"

As though she had seen hope, Jiang Qingzhu's clear eyes lit up slightly. Then she poured everything out in one breath,

"You've just entered the Second-Tier and haven't cultivated a Breathing Technique yet. I can teach you my [Dust Mist Frost Snow].

"This is the S-Grade Breathing Technique passed down through the Jiang Family for generations. It will definitely help you!

"I also know three or four Second-Tier Martial Skills of treasured quality, and I've even begun learning a Third-Tier Martial Skill. Just wait for me a while longer, and I can teach you all of those too."

After saying that, Jiang Qingzhu watched Ye Li fall silent, feeling somewhat uneasy.

She could not be blamed for being impatient.

Jiang Qingzhu knew very well that her strength had been stuck at a bottleneck for quite some time.

Although she had some talent in Martial Arts Talent and Breathing Techniques, allowing her Martial Arts Level to far surpass that of most people her age, her mastery of martial skills was truly a complete mess.

Several precious Second-Tier Martial Skills had all lingered around the proficient level, never reaching the level of mastery known as [Great Accomplishment].

Yet every elder in the Jiang Family who had practiced those martial skills was working on the front lines defending against exotic beasts, with no time to teach her.

With the Martial Exam drawing ever closer, Jiang Qingzhu would be lying if she said she was not anxious.

That was why she trained painstakingly day and night, turning a deaf ear to almost all School Team matters, all so she could achieve a breakthrough in her martial skill cultivation.

Unfortunately, the results had been minimal.

If this continued, once she encountered opponents with Martial Arts Levels close to hers and comparable Martial Arts Talent, she would easily fall into a disadvantage.

Jiang Qingzhu knew this well and had constantly searched for a solution.

Among everyone she had known so far, Ye Li was the only one who had cursed her spear technique for being utterly terrible.

And with nothing more than an incomparably incomplete text, he had cultivated the Heavenly Dipper Void-Treading Technique to what seemed to be the level of perfection!

So, even if the possibility was minuscule, Jiang Qingzhu wanted to try.

Looking at the white-clad young man, she lightly bit her lower lip and forced herself to ask,

"C-can you?"

With such an expression, it was truly hard to see any possibility that she was lying.

After confirming that—

Finally, beneath the incomparably expectant gaze of the Jiang Family's eldest daughter,

Ye Li took a deep breath and finally gave his answer:

"Anything is fine?"

"Anything is fine!"

"Then I'll fucking make you the strongest spearman in the entire school."