People Like Him Are the Sneakiest: Ask Them, and They'll Say They've Had an Epiphany [5,700-word chapter]

The outskirts of the Star Dou Great Forest.

Time flew like a white steed glimpsed through a crack, and several days passed.

After leaving Nuoding City, Xu Qing and Hsin had headed southeast.

By day, they explored new territory and searched for treasure chests. At night, they cultivated and rested.

With Hsin, his big-fox senior in civil engineering, around, they could build a large house anytime, anywhere.

It was every bit as convenient as the Hoi-Poi Capsules in Dragon Ball.

They could produce a large house anytime, anywhere.

Hsin was a must-have for home and travel.

As Xu Qing put it, no matter how hard things got, he couldn't let himself suffer. Love yourself before loving others.

Whenever she watched her Rover say these things with a perfectly straight face, hearts would appear in a certain fox spirit's eyes.

She would exclaim how adorable her little Rover was, then cover his face with kisses.

Only when Xu Qing stopped her did the big fox cease her excessive behavior.

Over the past few days, however, Xu Qing had looted more than thirty Basic Supply Chests and ten Standard Supply Chests.

He had obtained over sixty Basic Energy Cores, around four hundred Gold Soul Coins, and some refined ore.

He had gathered another ten LF Howler Cores, along with some herbs that were hundreds of years old.

And over forty Low-Tier Soul Power Crystals.

In any case, they combined the characteristics of Wuthering Waves and the Douluo World.

After using up some materials, Xu Qing's two-star Sword had also reached level 20 and undergone a breakthrough.

Its attack had increased by 84%, and its attack speed by 60%.

Defense ignore had increased by 22%.

Breaking through defenses.

Xu Qing was extremely satisfied when he saw the Sword's stats.

After breaking through level 20, the Sword's attack percentage stat had already risen to 84%.

Its future was bright indeed.

Unfortunately, he hadn't found a single higher-tier chest.

It made Xu Qing wonder whether he needed to visit larger regions or cities to find higher-tier chests.

After all, the cities they had passed through along the way had all been much like Nuoding City.

That morning, Xu Qing and Hsin reached a stretch of woodland on the outskirts of the Star Dou Great Forest and stopped to rest.

Xu Qing had just lit up an area of the minimap when another Standard Supply Chest appeared three hundred meters ahead.

He was about to get up and open it when Hsin rose before him. "Rover, rest here. I'll go fetch the treasure for you."

"It's not far anyway."

Hsin had already walked off. Without looking back, she waved. "Since it isn't far, all the more reason for me to go."

Xu Qing couldn't be bothered to argue and sat on a tree root to wait for her.

Before long, Hsin returned.

She carried the items obtained from the chest.

Ten Gold Soul Coins, two Low-Tier Soul Power Crystals, one LF Howler Core, and a small bag of unidentified dried fruit.

She pressed the dried fruit into Xu Qing's hand. "Rover, try some of this. It tastes quite good."

Xu Qing opened the bag, picked out a piece, and tossed it into his mouth, chewing a couple of times.

The flesh was dense and soft, with fruity sweetness and a faint sourness. Its flavor was rich.

"It tastes good."

"Doesn't it?" Hsin smiled.

"Too bad there weren't any Energy Cores, just one LF Howler Core."

"It's good enough that there was something. The unknown is what drives exploration."

"Rover, you're really looking forward to the day this Sword completes its transformation, aren't you?" Hsin said softly, looking into his eyes.

"Of course. I want to see how far it can grow too."

Xu Qing stroked the Sword in his hand.

"Rover."

Hsin crouched beside him and laid one of her large fox tails across his thigh.

"?"

Xu Qing's face was full of question marks.

"Rover, pet Hsin too." Only then did Xu Qing notice that Hsin's gaze was fixed firmly on the Sword in his hand. He didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

"You're jealous of a sword?"

"What are you talking about, Rover? Hsin doesn't know." Hsin blinked, pretending not to understand, but her fox tail twitched, urging Xu Qing to get on with it.

"Honestly, are fox spirits always this clingy?"

Xu Qing stroked the big, fluffy fox tail, and a look of delight appeared on Hsin's face.

"Happy now?"

Xu Qing found it both exasperating and funny.

"Rover, what would you like to eat for lunch?"

"Anything, as long as you make it."

Hsin's heart thumped, and her fox ears twitched incessantly. She reached out and pulled Xu Qing into her arms, an utterly blissful smile on her face.

"Rover, could you say that again?"

"Which part?"

"What you just said."

Hsin's voice brimmed with irrepressible delight, and her tail swished through the air behind her.

"'Anything, as long as you make it.' That's what you just said, right, Rover?"

"That's right."

"Then, Rover, could you say it again?"

"..."

He didn't know what had gotten into this fox spirit again, but Xu Qing helplessly repeated himself.

"Anything, as long as you make it."

"Anything, as long as I make it. Anything, as long as I make it."

"Rover, does that mean you see Hsin as a treasure?"

"Hsin is so happy."

The big fox hugged him tighter and tighter, until Xu Qing could barely breathe.

"Wait, let go first. I can't breathe."

"..." Hsin hurriedly released Xu Qing and checked him over, her face full of anxiety.

"Rover, are you feeling unwell anywhere?"

"All right, there's no need to get so worked up."

Seeing the anxiety in her eyes, Xu Qing reached out and patted her head.

"Really, Rover?"

"Really, really."

"Then, Rover, could you say it one more time?" Hsin looked at Xu Qing with sparkling eyes.

Xu Qing helplessly repeated it.

With another yelp, Hsin threw her arms around him. This time she didn't hug him as tightly, but her tail wagged even more joyfully than before.

Seeing how happy the big fox was, Xu Qing couldn't be bothered to stop her. He patted her shoulder.

"All right, once you're done being happy, make lunch."

"Yes."

"I just caught a few Thousand-Year Soft Bone Rabbits. I'll make you hand-shredded rabbit in chili oil."

Hsin loosened her hold on Xu Qing slightly, left a few more marks on his face, then turned to prepare the rabbits. As she worked, she hummed a song, her tail swinging nonstop.

Xu Qing watched her bustling about from behind. After a moment of silence, he muttered to himself.

"When this fox spirit gets happy, she's just like a big dog. Her tail's wagging so hard she could almost take flight."

Hsin's ears twitched. Without turning around, she called back:

"Rover, Hsin heard that. You said Hsin was like a big dog, but Hsin won't get angry."

"Because Rover sees Hsin as a treasure."

"What do those two things have to do with each other?"

Hsin looked back and winked at him, her tail wagging even more joyfully.

"Hsin is happy. No matter what Rover says, Hsin will be happy."

Xu Qing gazed steadily at that face, its smile as beautiful as a flower, and said nothing more.

In the past, he had gotten into the game for the character designs, backstories, and exquisite artwork.

When he set up the private server, he had only wanted to make Rover even more of a Long Aotian and make up for every regret.

And to play gacha games some more.

To unlock special scenarios and special artwork.

After transmigrating to Douluo and forming a contract with the big fox, he had only thought of it as his two-dimensional paper wife coming to life.

He had gained an immensely powerful protector who could help him grow in safety.

Hsin had one hundred percent intimacy and trust toward him.

Even after spending several days together, it still felt somewhat dreamlike to him.

But at this very moment, Xu Qing truly felt Hsin's intense affection.

She really did cherish his every word and action as a treasure.

The weight of that affection left Xu Qing somewhat at a loss.

He wasn't the Rover from the game, whose feelings had been buried deep beneath the weight of long years and heavy responsibilities, and who tended to think rationally in everything he did.

He was merely a corporate drone from the real world, an ordinary transmigrator who had crossed over to the Douluo Continent and spent several years tempering himself.

"Rover, no matter where you go, Hsin will always follow you."

At some point, Hsin had appeared before Xu Qing.

"After all, in Hsin's eyes, Rover will always be that high-spirited savior who planned everything with perfect confidence."

"There's nothing in the world that can stump you."

Though she was only an emotional avatar split off from Xinyue Fox, carrying all of Xinyue Fox's feelings for Rover,

once she had been completely separated, she had also become an independent individual.

She loved her Rover just the same.

Even if the current Rover was still very young and had yet to grow up.

But in the past, Rover had saved Mournstead, saved Sister Yuehu, saved Sister Xuanqing, and saved her.

So now it was her turn to protect Rover as he grew.

Wasn't it a kind of happiness to watch Rover ascend to the summit, step by step?

Xu Qing looked at the Xinyue Fox before him, his gaze distant.

The person before him was so real. She was no longer a string of data whose details, character, and background he could alter at will on a private server, but a lover who loved him deeply.

It truly was a weighty affection.

Her original world would also become real.

Then could he, as he had on the private server, stride forward in high spirits and stop every regret, every twist of the knife?

At that moment, Xu Qing vaguely recalled Yangyang's Wuthering Waves PV, "Dark Plumes."

It was an IF route without Rover.

Without Rover's intervention, many characters had met tragic fates.

Although Jinzhou had won a pyrrhic victory, the price had been immense.

Many people had died. So very many people had died.

"The ending in which Solaris was destroyed by Mingshi still hadn't changed." In the end, only by "loading a save and starting over" had the subsequent 1.0 story with Rover come to be.

Would he experience something like that in the future too?

Xu Qing's eyes turned scarlet.

No!

I won't allow that to happen!

Not even if I can load a save and start over!

But the strong preyed on the weak, and strength reigned supreme.

Weakness was the original sin!

For now, he couldn't concern himself with anyone else, but at this moment, he wanted to protect the big fox's smile and her feelings.

And if he wanted to protect everything he cared about,

he had only to grow stronger, and stronger still!

For one general to achieve glory, ten thousand bones must turn to dust!

The victor became king; the loser was reduced to ashes!

Xu Qing's mind was clearer than ever before, his eyes sharp.

Sword intent erupted from his body, keen and cold, its killing intent awe-inspiring as it shot straight into the heavens.

Soul Power surged wildly within him. Level 15, level 16, level 17.

Feeling that utterly familiar sword intent, Hsin's eyes trembled.

Though compared with the Rover she knew, this sword intent was still very, very faint.

But that incomparably familiar fluctuation.

This was the Driver's sword intent.

It took quite a while before Xu Qing's sword intent completely subsided.

"Congratulations on your great increase in strength, Driver," Hsin said to Xu Qing.

"A great increase? I only took one small step forward."

"I'm still weak."

"Weakness is the original sin!"

Xu Qing felt the fluctuations of his Soul Power, his expression showing no delight.

He was only level 17. What was there to be happy about?

Level seventeen-still weak.

He had to grow stronger, even stronger!

Only by becoming stronger could he prevent the things he imagined from happening.

Only then could he protect the things he wished for and cared about.

This was a real world now, no longer a game world where he could revive at will.

Only by becoming truly strong could he take control of his own fate, rather than be ruthlessly trampled underfoot by others!

As Xu Qing's resolve grew firmer, his sword intent and Soul Power continued to fluctuate.

"Driver, you've already worked very hard. You don't need to push yourself so."

"You should be growing up happily now."

Sensing the change in Xu Qing, Hsin hugged him tightly.

Although the Driver she knew was a powerful savior who bore the weight of everything,

the person he was now shouldn't have to carry such a heavy burden.

"Now, Driver, you have me. You have all of us."

"Driver, you don't have to shoulder everything alone."

Xu Qing patted her shoulder.

"Don't worry. I'm not that fragile."

"If I can't even bear this much, what kind of man am I?"

It was a long while before Hsin let him go and gazed steadily at him.

"Or don't you trust me?"

Xu Qing reached out and pinched her smooth, tender cheek.

"No. Hsin believes the Driver will always be the strongest."

"Then that settles it."

Xu Qing smiled and gave her a hug.

"Hsin, you'll always listen to me, won't you?"

Hsin nodded vigorously.

"Hsin will forever, forever, forever believe in the Driver and obey the Driver's instructions."

"Good." Xu Qing smiled.

"Remember what you said today."

"Yes, Driver."

Hsin beamed, her tail swishing back and forth.

But her smile hadn't lasted long before her eyes turned icy.

"What's wrong?" Xu Qing asked, noticing the change in her.

"Driver, why are those guys like plasters stuck to our skin?"

"?"

Hsin raised her hand and traced a line through the air with her fingertip. A mirror of light appeared out of thin air.

Its surface reflected a scene elsewhere in the forest.

A group of people were making their way along a forest trail.

The middle-aged man at the front was sturdily built, wearing brown leather clothes and black-framed glasses. He had a drooping mustache and a distinctly shrewd, mercenary look on his face. It was none other than Flender.

The thin figure beside him was Yu Xiaogang.

His complexion was much better than it had been a few days ago, but he still didn't walk very smoothly.

A little boy followed behind them, looking around.

"Driver, there's a rat following behind them too."

Hsin tapped lightly with her fair hand, and the mirror of light split in two. The other half showed a burly man hiding in the forest behind them. He wore a ragged cloak, his hair was disheveled, his beard was unkempt, and his face was full of dejection.

It was none other than Tang Hao.

At that moment, Flender's group stopped in the mirror.

Yu Xiaogang pointed at an emerald-green bamboo growing all alone not far away.

"Xiao San, look. This is a 10-Year Lone Bamboo. Its characteristic is toughness."

"Your Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul is fragile and lacks toughness. This Lone Bamboo is just right to make up for that."

Tang San, whose understanding of the Soul Master system was shallow, blinked. "Teacher, do you want me to absorb his Soul Ring?"

Flender opened his mouth, but in the end said nothing.

Yesterday, his dear friend Yu Xiaogang had come to seek refuge with him, and he had been very happy.

Although Xiaogang looked much more haggard, his face was paler, his gait was somewhat awkward, and he even gave off a foul smell-clearly, something had happened-he kept his mouth shut about it.

Still, Xiaogang coming to seek refuge with him was better than anything.

Moreover, he had taken in a genius with Innate Full Soul Power.

The only pity was that it was a Trash Martial Soul like Blue Silver Grass.

But the talent of Innate Full Soul Power was genuine.

Xiaogang surely had his reasons for having Tang San absorb a Ten-Year Soul Ring.

After all, he was a theoretical Grandmaster. It was right to trust him.

In any case, he couldn't possibly arrange a garbage Soul Ring for his own disciple.

Outside the mirror, the corner of Xu Qing's mouth twitched violently.

"Wait, how did these plasters stuck to our skin follow us all the way here?"

A cold light gleamed in Hsin's eyes.

"Hsin doesn't know either, but judging by their direction, they seem to be coming our way."

"Let's leave first."

"I don't want to see that turd, or I won't have an appetite all day."

"Yes, Driver."

Hsin put away everything around them and erased all traces at the site. Only then did the two head deeper into the woods, where they found a towering tree.

Hsin brought him down lightly onto a thick horizontal branch, where the foliage concealed both of them completely.

The mirror of light remained open in front of them. After quite a while, Yu Xiaogang's group passed the place where they had rested.

"Xiao San, the Ten-Year Solitary Bamboo is a backup. If we can't find anything suitable, we'll come back for it."

As they walked, Yu Xiaogang continued, "Xiao San, remember this. Blue Silver Grass is fragile and lacks toughness. That's its weakness."

"But a weakness can also be turned around. Add poison to it, and its entanglement will have a paralyzing effect. That way, even if it isn't tough enough on its own, it can rely on poison to wear down an opponent."

Tang San nodded, his expression serious. "You're right, Teacher."

Hidden weapons and poison were what the Tang Sect excelled at most.

He felt even more strongly that Yu Xiaogang was highly knowledgeable.

Yu Xiaogang smiled in satisfaction and continued, "So for your First Soul Ring, it would be best to find a Soul Beast that has both poison and toughness."

"For example, the Mandala Snake. Its poison can paralyze the nerves, and its body is tough enough in itself."

"Absorb its Soul Ring, and your Blue Silver Grass will gain both entanglement and the poison attribute."

Meanwhile, in the other half of the mirror of light,

Tang Hao wore an expression of relief.

He had thought Yu Xiaogang was really going to find a 10-Year Lone Bamboo for his son's Soul Ring.

A Mandala Snake?

He gave Yu Xiaogang a long look.

Then he went around Yu Xiaogang's group and slipped into the forest to find a suitable Soul Beast.

Yu Xiaogang's group continued deeper into the forest, completely unaware that two separate parties were watching them at will.

Xu Qing sat on the branch, watching the scene in the mirror without expression.

"Sure enough, Gangzi is first-rate when it comes to holding Tang San back."

"Giving Blue Silver Grass the poison attribute-and entanglement is an instinct of Blue Silver Grass, yet he's going out of his way to waste a Soul Ring and get Tang San a Mother's Entanglement."

In the original story, after Tang San received the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect's Split Attention Cultivation Method from Ning Rongrong, he could control Blue Silver Grass vines at will.

His original fourth Soul Skill, Blue Silver Cage, was a group control skill.

After learning the Split Attention Cultivation Method and gaining greater ease in controlling the Blue Silver vines,

he changed it slightly into the Blue Silver Thorn Array, adding quite a few offensive properties to it.

So entanglement was simply an instinct of Blue Silver Grass. With a little practice later, he could turn it into a Self-Created Soul Skill.

There was no need to take up a Soul Ring for it.

But Yu Xiaogang was right about one thing.

The Ten-Year Solitary Bamboo's characteristic was toughness.

It really was quite suitable for Tang San's Blue Silver Grass.

After all, Tang San's Martial Soul wasn't Blue Silver Grass, but an unawakened Blue Silver Emperor.

If he followed the style of a Tang Sect disciple,

he should have strengthened the Blue Silver Grass's toughness, hardness, and other such properties, then later imitated Chrysanthemum Douluo, controlling the leaves on the Blue Silver Grass and using them as throwing knives to attack wildly.

If Tang San knew there was a way to use his Martial Soul like that, he would happily follow that path all the way into the dark.

Tang Sect Hidden Weapons were number one under heaven!

In any case, wasn't it always Tang Sect Hidden Weapons that Tang San relied on to turn the tables and counterattack in the original story?

Whether it was fighting Zhao Wuji when he entered Shrek Academy, or the Soul Master Tournament afterward, and so on.

Once Blue Silver Grass was defeated, it was time for Tang Sect Hidden Weapons to appear.

The challenge against a higher rank began.

So it was also true that Gangzi was increasing the game's difficulty for Tang San.

Hsin leaned against the tree trunk beside him, her tail curled around Xu Qing's waist, and asked curiously, "Driver, what is Mother's Entanglement?"

"Tang San's mother is the Blue Silver Emperor, and his Martial Soul is Blue Silver Grass. So isn't Blue Silver Grass's entanglement Mother's Entanglement?"

"Blue Silver Grass is a plant, and entanglement is instinctive. With a little practice later, he could turn it into a Self-Created Soul Skill."

"Yet he has to waste a slot on it."

Hsin burst out laughing.

"That really is fitting."

"And that so-called Grandmaster really is trash."

"He truly is trash, managing to insult himself twice in one sentence."

Hsin giggled.

She really hadn't expected this world to be so absurd.

Even someone like that could be called a Grandmaster.

How sad this world really was.

"Of course. That guy's a clown."

In the mirror of light, Yu Xiaogang's group walked a little farther before Flender suddenly stopped and reached out to block the people behind him.

"Something's moving!"