Gu Qingshuang
Back on the mountain, the man and woman were still practicing their swordplay, and had reached an increasingly intense final stretch.
The man emphasized masculine strength, while the woman emphasized feminine suppleness. Truth be told, they worked together with considerable harmony.
The man's cultivation was clearly far higher than the woman's, but to match her, he deliberately suppressed his strength, keeping it at a level similar to hers throughout.
After Qin Yi watched them a little longer from up close, that gentle, mature woman's voice abruptly sounded in his mind: [The system has detected the appearance of Gu Qingshuang, a reserve Daughter of Destiny. Quest triggered. Will the host accept the quest to win Gu Qingshuang's favor?]
Steal Gu Qingshuang from another man?
He hadn't even won Gu Yiyi over yet, and now he was supposed to steal her older sister from another man too?
[Should the host accept, as you are in the beginner period, completing the quest will reward you with an increase of two levels!]
Qin Yi hadn't paid it much mind at first and was just about to fetch swords from the weapon rack with Gu Yiyi, but the moment he heard the reward, he froze.
Complete the quest and gain two levels?
According to the system's way of calculating levels, one level meant an entire cultivation realm.
Gaining two levels meant advancing straight from the Qi Refining Realm to the Golden Core Realm.
Why is the reward for stealing Gu Qingshuang from another man twice as high?
Successfully stealing Gu Yiyi from another man would only raise him one level. Yet stealing Gu Qingshuang would actually raise him two.
The system's gentle, mature woman's voice sounded: [Because Gu Qingshuang is a reserve Daughter of Destiny. Blessed with destiny, she is no ordinary person.]
[If the host accepts the quest, half the reward may be claimed in advance for a period of three months. If the quest fails, the reward will be withdrawn.]
Qin Yi thought this system was pretty nice. Unlike those other assorted, nonsensical systems, it didn't threaten to obliterate its host at the drop of a hat.
Even if he failed, all that would happen was the reward being withdrawn.
But if I claim half the reward in advance again, then I...
Qin Yi calculated his current cultivation. He was at the fifth level of Qi Refining. Claiming another half in advance would raise him one level outright.
He was already at the fifth level of Qi Refining. Even gaining a level would only take him to the Foundation Establishment Realm.
That's not much of a bargain.
After all, the system's calculation directly raised him by one major realm.
If he cultivated to the Foundation Establishment Realm tomorrow and then claimed half the reward in advance, he could become a Golden Core expert overnight.
With that thought, he calmed down, suppressed his excitement, and decided there was no hurry to accept this quest.
Besides the reward not being a good bargain, he didn't want to progress so quickly right from the start.
Just think: he had only just joined Emerald Bamboo Peak and taken Gu Yiyi's father, Gu Yanshan, as his master.
Gu Yanshan hadn't taught him anything yet. If he progressed a thousand miles in a day now, Gu Yanshan certainly wouldn't feel any sense of accomplishment as his master, nor would he feel that Qin Yi was one of his own.
But if he displayed the momentum of soaring into the heavens after Gu Yanshan had taught him for a while, that would be different.
Then Gu Yanshan would feel that he had taught well, and that this disciple truly possessed great comprehension and was worth nurturing.
The outcome would be the same, but a different process would yield vastly different gains.
"Junior Sister Yiyi, I've thought it over. My Green Lotus Sword Song actually suits you very well. Once you've learned it, perhaps it could serve as a means of saving your life someday. Why don't I teach you?"
After taking an iron sword from the weapon rack, Qin Yi decided to pass the Green Lotus Sword Song on to Gu Yiyi.
If he wanted to build a connection with Gu Yiyi, this sword technique was the best medium.
Down at the foot of the mountain earlier, Gu Yiyi had seemed to have recovered her spirits. But after coming up the mountain and seeing Hua Yunfeng and Gu Qingshuang, she had grown distracted again.
Hearing Qin Yi's words, she merely gave an absentminded "Oh."
Qin Yi didn't mind and first demonstrated the opening move, Bring in the Wine, for her.
After the demonstration, he explained its key points and essentials to Gu Yiyi.
After listening, Gu Yiyi also tried lunging forward, practicing Bring in the Wine.
But even though her cultivation was one minor level higher than Qin Yi's, her execution of Bring in the Wine was light and insubstantial, with little killing power.
In particular, after charging forward, she had to leave a phantom behind in her original position, and the third charge would return her to that phantom's location.
This actually involved spatial power.
The seemingly simple first move contained spatial laws that someone below the Golden Core Realm could not comprehend.
After noticing this problem, Qin Yi asked the system whether he could transfer the "Green Lotus Sword Song" imprint to someone else.
If he could, Gu Yiyi would only need to inherit the "Green Lotus Sword Song" imprint to master the sword technique immediately.
The system's gentle, mature woman's voice replied: [Of course. However, copying the "Green Lotus Sword Song" imprint to another woman requires a certain degree of intimacy.]
Intimacy?
That was easy to understand. Those who knew, knew.
Qin Yi: "..."
But he and Gu Yiyi had only just met. Having sexual relations with her now was impossible, however he thought about it.
The gentle, mature woman's voice said: [However, to help the host successfully steal another man's love, the host may guide a woman through her training hand over hand. Through physical contact, the woman will experience considerable pleasure. After ten such hands-on lessons, the sword technique imprint will also be temporarily copied into her body, remaining effective for thirty minutes.]
Qin Yi said, "You should've told me sooner that it could do that."
Teaching hand over hand could give a woman considerable pleasure. With such a divine skill, how could he possibly fail to capture a woman's heart?
At that moment, the man and woman practicing in the training grounds seemed about ready to stop.
As their sword moves slowed, they also noticed Gu Yiyi and Qin Yi.
It looked as though they were about to stop, seemingly intending to come over and greet Gu Yiyi.
Seizing the opportunity, Qin Yi suddenly moved beside Gu Yiyi, wrapped one arm around her waist, and adjusted her arm with his other hand. "Junior Sister Yiyi, raise your sword a little. I'll guide you hand over hand."
With a man suddenly so close to her, Gu Yiyi instinctively wanted to resist.
Yet before even a second had passed, an inexplicable sense of pleasure unlike anything she had ever experienced arose in both her body and mind.
It felt like when she had first successfully entered the Dao, and everyone had gathered around her like stars surrounding the moon, showering her with praise. That had been her happiest moment.
Yet what she felt now seemed even stronger.
With his arm around her, Qin Yi suddenly executed Bring in the Wine, lunging forward together with her.
The sword light was like snow, its sweep like a silver moon crossing the sky.
A single advance carried them more than ten meters.
Two charges took them over twenty meters away. When the third thrust was executed, the two of them returned to their original spot with a whoosh.
"Ah!"
Before Gu Yiyi could understand how it worked, she suddenly saw that she had crossed over twenty meters and could return to her starting point in a single flash.
Her mood suddenly buoyant, she couldn't help laughing with delight. "It's so amazing! Qin Yi, Qin Yi, again, again! I want to learn! I want to learn!"